Enes Kanter

On 13 February 2019, Kanter signed with the Portland Trail Blazers. He made his debut for the Trail Blazers on 21 February, recording 18 points and nine rebounds off the bench in a 113–99 win over the Brooklyn Nets. In game one of the Trail Blazers' first-round playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kanter had 20 points and a career playoff-high 18 rebounds in a 104–99 win, becoming just the third player in team history with at least 20 points and 18 rebounds in playoff game: Bill Walton did it three times and LaMarcus Aldridge once.

When free agency opened on 1 July 2019, Kanter and the Boston Celtics agreed to a two-year, $10 million contract. He was officially signed on July 17.

On 9 September 2019, Kanter made a special appearance at a WWE Monday Night Raw event at Madison Square Garden, where prior to Raw going on the air he defeated WWE 24/7 Champion R-Truth to win the title, though he would lose it back to R-Truth moments later (all of which was shown later during the Raw broadcast).

Kanter dated professional wrestler Dana Brooke until December 2019.

In January 2019, he decided against travelling to London with the Knicks, fearing that his life could be in danger if he traveled to Europe. Kanter did not travel to Toronto with the Portland Trail Blazers in March 2019 for the same reason. According to a 2019 ESPN story, FBI agents have issued him a communications device that allows him to contact the organization at a moment's notice due to credible threats against his life.

Also in January 2019, Turkey put an extradition request on Kanter and requested that Interpol put a red notice for his arrest. However, according to Interpol’s website no red notice had been issued.

In 2019, Kanter was the subject of an E:60 ESPN documentary called Enemy of the State. Kanter condemned the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria against U.S.-allied Kurds.

Kanter is a practicing Muslim. In 2019, he wrote in The Washington Post about the challenge of observing Ramadan during the NBA playoffs, which includes long periods of fasting while still playing NBA basketball games.

On 19 October 2018, Kanter scored 29 points in a 107–105 loss to the Nets. A day later, he recorded 17 points and 15 rebounds in a 103–101 loss to the Celtics, becoming the first Knick since Zach Randolph (2007–08) to start the season with three straight double-doubles. On 5 November he recorded 23 points and 24 rebounds in a 116–115 double-overtime loss to the Chicago Bulls. On 11 November, he notched his fifth straight double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds in a 115–89 loss to the Orlando Magic. On 25 November, recorded 21 points and a career-high 26 rebounds in a 103–98 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. In late December, Kanter was demoted to a reduced role off the bench. Kanter was waived by the Knicks on 7 February 2019. During his last game at Madison Square Garden, Kanter ran out and kissed the court goodbye.

During the summer of 2018, Kanter held 16 free basketball camps in the United States. In the summer of 2019, 40 free basketball camps were initially scheduled, but he ultimately hosted 50. Another 50 free camps are planned for the summer of 2020.

On 25 September 2017, Kanter was traded, along with Doug McDermott and a 2018 second-round pick, to the New York Knicks in exchange for Carmelo Anthony. In his debut for the Knicks in their season opener on October 19, 2017, Kanter had 10 points and seven rebounds in a 105–84 loss to his former team, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Five days later, he recorded 16 points and 19 rebounds in a 110–89 loss to the Boston Celtics. On 29 November 2017, after missing three games with back spasms, Kanter had 22 points and 14 rebounds in a 115–86 win over the Miami Heat. On 25 December 2017, he had a season-high 31 points and tied a career best with 22 rebounds in a 105–98 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. He joined Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Bob Lanier as the only players with a 30-20 game on Christmas. On 30 January 2018, he recorded 20 points, 20 rebounds and five assists in a 111–95 win over the Brooklyn Nets. On 6 February 2018, in a 103–89 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, Kanter recorded 19 points and 16 rebounds for his sixth consecutive double-double, marking the longest streak by any Knick since David Lee had seven straight from 9–26 February 2010. On 6 March 2018, he had 18 points and 11 rebounds in a 111–87 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. It was Kanter's 32nd double-double of the season, a career high.

In May 2017, while on a tour hosting basketball camps in Hong Kong and Japan and other parts of Asia, Kanter was in Jakarta, Indonesia. At 2:30 AM, Kanter's manager knocked on his door with alarming information. He was told that two men identifying themselves as Indonesian government officials had visited the camp and wanted to speak to find out if Kanter was sleeping at the camp, which he often did. Kanter, staying at a hotel with his manager, instead immediately left Indonesia, going to Singapore, then Bucharest, Romania via Frankfurt, Germany. On 20 May 2017, when trying to fly into Romania – where another camp was planned to be held – Kanter was not allowed into the country, and was told by officials there that his passport was cancelled by the Turkish embassy. Kanter was temporarily stranded in Romania, but eventually flew to London, and then back to the United States. While stuck in Romania, Kanter took to Twitter to explain his situation and the hashtag #FreeEnes went viral - this was all happening during Kanter's birthday. Upon landing in the US, Kanter said the first thing he did was pray.

In Turkey, Kanter's father was charged as a member of a terrorist group. He was arrested, then was released after being detained for five days. Kanter believes his father has been targeted by the Turkish government and could face many years in prison. Kanter is unable to contact his friends and family back in Turkey because he fears the conversations will be tapped and they will be harmed. Six days after the cancellation of his passport, the Turkish government issued an arrest warrant for Kanter, accusing him of being a member of a "terror group". Turkey said that charged citizens who fail to come to Turkey during September 2017 face revocation of citizenship; in September 2017, Kanter described himself as stateless. According to Sports Illustrated, "Although Kanter might dismiss the Turkish arrest warrant as toothless, he faces the more impactful problem of being a man without a country." It was reported on 20 December 2017, that Turkish prosecutors were seeking more than four years in prison for Kanter, who would be tried in absentia.

On 28 November 2016, Kanter recorded a season-high 27 points and 10 rebounds in a 112–103 win over the New York Knicks. On 26 January 2017, he sustained a fractured forearm after punching a chair on the Thunder's bench during their game against the Dallas Mavericks. He was subsequently ruled out for six to eight weeks. He returned to action on 24 February 2017 against the Los Angeles Lakers after missing nine games. He finished with four points on 2-for-12 shooting.

On 19 February 2015, Kanter was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in a three-team deal that also involved the Detroit Pistons. Two days later, he made his debut for the Thunder, recording a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds in a 110–103 win over the Charlotte Hornets. On 1 April 2015, he scored a then career-high 30 points in a 135–131 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

After the 2014–15 season, Kanter became a restricted free agent. On 9 July 2015, he received a four-year, $70 million offer sheet from the Portland Trail Blazers. However, three days later, the Thunder exercised their right of first refusal and matched the offer sheet extended to Kanter by the Trail Blazers. On 14 March 2016, he scored a then season-high 26 points in a 128–94 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. On April 6, he recorded a career-high 33 points and 20 rebounds in a 120–115 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, becoming the first player in Thunder history to score at least 30 points and grab 20 rebounds in a game. In Game 3 of the Thunder's first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks, Kanter recorded a playoff career-high 21 points and a game-high eight rebounds in a 131–102 win, claiming a 2–1 series lead. In Game 4 of the series, Kanter helped the Thunder go up 3–1 with 28 points on 12-of-13 shooting, setting a playoff career high for the second straight game.

In 2013–14, Kanter appeared in 80 games (37 starts), averaging 12.3 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. On 3 March 2014, he scored a then career-high 27 points in a 114–88 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.

On 16 December 2014, Kanter scored a then career-high 29 points in a 119–111 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

In 2012–13, Kanter improved his averages in every major statistical category, led the team in scoring three times and rebounding four times, and scored in double-figures 22 times. In 70 games (two starts), he averaged 7.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. On 1 March 2013, Kanter had the first 20-20 game of his career with career-highs of 23 points and 22 rebounds to lead the Jazz to a 98–68 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats. He later missed the final 10 games of the season due to a dislocated left shoulder.

Kanter said he became publicly critical of president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2013 due to the corruption scandal in Turkey. After the failed 2016 coup d'état attempt, Kanter criticised Turkish president Erdoğan on Twitter, calling him the "Hitler of our century". Soon after the coup attempt in July, his father and his family publicly disowned him due to his political views and his support for Gülen, imploring him to change his surname, on August 8. Kanter stated that he loves Gülen "more than his family", informally changing his name to Enes Gülen. His father was dismissed from his university position a few weeks later, via government decree numbered 272 on 1 September, as part of 2016–17 Turkish purges. Also, Kanter has received backlash from former NBA player Hedo Turkoglu. Turkoglu has called Kanter’s comments “irrational”.

Kanter's younger brother, Kerem Kanter, played for the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay from 2014 to 2017. After graduating from UW–Green Bay in 2017, he transferred to Xavier University under the NCAA's graduate transfer rule. In July 2019, Kerem signed with Club Joventut Badalona.

However, despite signing with the Kentucky Wildcats, the NCAA declared him permanently ineligible as a collegiate athlete because he received approximately $33,000 from Fenerbahçe in excess benefits. The NCAA ruled that this amount was above and beyond what was considered acceptable. On 7 January 2011, the NCAA rejected Kentucky's appeal, upholding that Kanter was permanently ineligible. Without Kanter, Kentucky still managed to reach the Final Four in the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.

Kanter was drafted third overall by the Utah Jazz in the 2011 NBA draft. Upon being drafted, he said "I'm so happy, I'm so excited. I know the Utah Jazz fans are crazy and I love them. I will bring the team toughness and post moves, rebounding, everything. I will try to do everything to make the playoffs." On 9 December 2011, he signed his rookie scale contract with the Jazz following the conclusion of the NBA lockout. In 2011–12, he became the 10th Jazz rookie in franchise history to appear in every regular-season game. He also recorded the most rebounds for a Jazz rookie on debut with 11 against the Los Angeles Lakers on 27 December. In the season, he averaged 4.6 points and 4.2 rebounds in 66 games.

Kanter played with the Turkish senior team for the first time at the 2011 EuroBasket where he was the youngest player to make the team. He appeared in eight games and averaged 9.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. Kanter was left off the team's roster for EuroBasket 2015. Kanter alleged that the omission was due to his relationship with Fethullah Gülen and his support of the Gülen movement while coach Ergin Ataman said that Kanter was excluded because "he did not apologize to teammates for past incidents." Kanter also believes that if he were to go to Turkey to play he would end up in jail, killed by the national government, and a fake poisoning incident would be created.

From 2010 to 2011, Kanter attended one year of college at the University of Kentucky, although he was declared permanently ineligible to play (or even practice) with the basketball team by the NCAA.

In 2009, Kanter moved to the United States, where he enrolled at Stoneridge Preparatory School in Simi Valley, California, and played for the basketball team in 2009–10. At the 2010 Nike Hoop Summit, Kanter played for the international team, recording 34 points and 13 rebounds. His point total was a record for the event, breaking Dirk Nowitzki's record set in the 1998 game. Both Rivals.com and Scout.com (now known as 247Sports.com) rated Kanter as a five-star prospect, the highest possible rating.

On 23 November 2009, Kanter verbally committed to play for the Washington Huskies. Kanter chose Washington over UCLA, USC, Indiana and UNLV. However, he re-opened his recruitment in February 2010, and on April 14, Kanter signed a National Letter of Intent to play college basketball for Kentucky.

Kanter made his debut for the Turkish national basketball team at the 2008 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship in Italy. He dominated throughout the tournament, averaging 22.9 points, 16.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 34.6 minutes per game. However, Jonas Valančiūnas was chosen as the MVP after he averaged 14.3 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 23.5 minutes. Kanter went on to earn MVP honors at the 2009 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship after averaging 18.6 points and 16.4 rebounds while leading Turkey's junior national team to the bronze medal. He declined to play for the senior national team at the 2010 FIBA World Championship which was being held in Turkey as the team went on to win the silver medal. His father claimed he did this in order not to miss the first month of classes at Kentucky.

Before moving to the United States, Kanter played under Serdar Apaydın's management for the Fenerbahçe youth squad between 2006 and 2008 and then, during the 2008–09 season, Kanter was a seldom-used reserve for the Fenerbahçe senior team. He played in at least nine games with the team: four in the EuroLeague and five in the Turkish Super League. Fenerbahçe and the Greek League basketball team Olympiacos both offered Kanter professional contracts, but he declined because he wanted to play high school and college basketball in the United States.

Enes Kanter (Turkish: [eˈnes kanˈtæɾ] ; born 20 May 1992), is a Swiss-born stateless basketball player of Turkish origin. He currently plays for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was originally selected as the third overall pick of the 2011 NBA draft by the Utah Jazz.