Boston Celtics: 3 Enes Kanter salary dump destinations

With the Boston Celtics closing in on a series win that hasn’t included much of Enes Kanter, here are 3 potential salary dump destinations for the Turkish center.

Against the Toronto Raptors, Enes Kanter has been all but unplayable. Forget the three stat-less minutes he accumulated in garbage time during last night’s blowout victory. Before then, the Boston Celtics played him a total of four minutes, and in them, he was a -4 contributor…and that was with four points scored of his own.

Thus far, Kanter has not lived up to the expectations that many had coming into the season. After serving as the starter for a Portland Trailblazers team that made a run to the Western Conference finals, the Turkish center has not been able to vie for the starting job or even secure the backup job.

Instead, Robert Williams has emerged as a superior option and has been a force in this series, converting on his first 10 shots of the series with two separate 5-5 outings. When the offseason arrives, Williams’ play may have made things very easy for the Cs front office.

A roster crunch is coming in the form of multiple incoming first-round draft picks and the two-way contracts of Tremont Waters and Tacko Fall needing to be converted as well. That could bring about a scenario where Boston uses a pick to get off of Kanter’s $5 million, which is:

a) good for what could be a very pricey luxury tax bill and

b) a good way to get some sort of value back in the form of a trade exception.

Acquiring the $5 million trade exception could allow the team to pursue a player at the trade deadline or next summer. Who knows what sort of asset that could be at such a low salary value…but flexibility is never a bad thing.

With the goal in mind, here are 3 teams the Boston Celtics can pursue in an Enes Kanter salary dump:

Charlotte Hornets

The books of the Charlotte Hornets will be relatively clean this offseason, and they will be one of the few teams with functional cap space–assuming the cap is flattened at $109 million. They have a need for a backup center behind Cody Zeller, and could afford to take on second-round picks from Boston as well.

Kanter could get time to shine as a veteran on a young team that ranked dead last in points per game in 2019-20. His post-game could help alleviate the playmaking burden for Terry Rozier and Devonte Graham, two guards not notorious for their facilitating.

Detroit Pistons

Like the Hornets, the Detroit Pistons also have oodles of cap space and a vacancy at the center position. Unlike Charlotte, Detroit may be without a starting center if Christian Wood leaves–which looks far more likely after he shared an IG story with a photoshopped Philadelphia 76ers jersey on.

Kanter could be the frontcourt complement to Blake Griffin, which would produce fun offense but wouldn’t be able to stop incoming drives if they were painted red and were octagonal. That sounds like a perfect tanking plan to me.

New York Knicks

Given Kanter’s clear affection for both the New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden–and his over the top dramatics related to his WWE stint as 24/7 Champion, it feels like a return to the Mecca would be a perfect narrative for a man with pro wrestling ambitions in his future.

While he clashed with former coach David Fizdale, perhaps he’d be able to gel well with Tom Thibodeau given his tangible improvements on the defensive this past season. Given that current Knicks centers Mitchell Robinson and Taj Gibson lack much of a bag so to speak, perhaps Kanter’s offensive-minded approach would be a good contrast to their defense-first demeanors.