Boston Celtics: Player of the Week — Enes Kanter
Enes Kanter is definitely one of the most intriguing players on the Boston Celtics so far in 2019-20.
Since joining the Boston Celtics this summer Enes Kanter has been extremely busy, mostly chasing personal endeavors. During his short tenure in Boston thus far, we’ve had the pleasure of learning more about the Celtics’ newest big-man.
Enes Kanter was born and raised in Switzerland and has three younger siblings. Both of his parents are in the medical field, as his mother is a nurse and his father received his MD and has spent time being a university professor.
As a young teen, Kanter was already a professional basketball player throughout the Swiss, Turkey, and Euro Leagues. He would decline another contract offer from Fenerbahçe because he wanted to play high school and college basketball in the United States.
When Kanter turned 17 years old, he moved to the United States in hopes of going to school and playing basketball. Unfortunately he was ruled ineligible to play due to a shoe contract from Nike when he was playing professionally for Fenerbahçe.
After being denied from two high schools in Nevada and West Virginia, Kanter eventually came across Stoneridge Prepatory School in Simi Valley, California. There he was able to play for the team during the 2009 & 2010 seasons.
Following his one year in prep-school, Kanter played in the 2010 Nike Hoop Summit where he would break a scoring record set by Dirk Nowitzki in 1998 and be named a five-star prospect.
The big man would then verbally commit to playing college ball for Washington in 2010, but he would later sign his letter of intent to play for Coach John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats. Kanter would be ruled ineligible by the NCAA because of payments he was receiving from Fenerbahçe.
At this point in the young ballers career, despite not playing in college, he had already accomplished enough to be noticed by NBA teams. The 19 year old Turkish basketball player would be selected third overall by the Utah Jazz in the 2011 NBA Draft.
Kanter would spend his first four seasons with the Jazz before being traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2015. In 2017 he would again be traded, this time to the New York Knicks, but in 2019 they would waive him from their roster.
Kanter then signed with the Portland Trailblazers and became a pivotal piece to their 2019 playoff run. The Boston Celtics and Enes would agree on a two-year, $10 million deal during free agency this past summer.
So far during his first season in Boston, Kanter has averaged 7.8 points and 7 rebounds per game. He has played in only 19 contests due to nagging injuries from the beginning of the season. The big recently recorded a season high 18 rebounds against the Detroit Pistons.
Outside of basketball, Kanter has become an avid political activist in hopes of earning some help and support for his people in Turkey. His efforts and criticisms of Recep Tayyip Erdogan (president of Turkey) have put him on not so great terms with government officials.
As a result of Kanter’s criticism, Turkey canceled his passport in 2017, making life even more difficult for the big-man and at one point had issued a warrant for his arrest. Kanter would need to become a citizen of the United States in order to obtain a passport here.
The 6-11 basketball player has always had a strong interest in professional wrestling. Kanter would make an appearance in the WEE and even become the WWE 24/7 champion. Kanter also has his own small show called “The Enes Kanter Show” on NBC Sports Boston.
The journey the 27-year-old had to take to get to the NBA is amazing, but the struggle continues everyday for him and his native people of Turkey.
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Not only is he a great teammate on the court, but he is also a joy to have in the locker room. As this season progresses, the value of Enes Kanter will show more so in the playoffs. He’s a one of a kind type of person and seems to have found a team to call home here with the Boston Celtics this season.