Getty Enes Kanter #11 of the Boston Celtics.
Enes Kanter Freedom continues to speak his mind about the NBA. Freedom, who hasn’t played an NBA game since the Boston Celtics traded him to the Houston Rockets – where he was promptly waived – took to Twitter to express what he believes is an injustice in the NBA.
Freedom alleged that an assistant coach in the NBA – whose name was kept anonymous by the former Celtics center – left his job because he felt attacked for openly expressing his conservative views. After releasing the conversation he had with this assistant coach, Freedom went on to say that what this coach went through was unacceptable.
Just had a conversation with one of the assistant coaches in the @NBA.
He was getting attacked throughout the whole season because
1) Who he supports,
2) He is a Republican.
He felt so uncomfortable and he quit his job at the end of the year.
This is unacceptable.
Freedom has not publicly declared that he is a conservative, but on February 7, 2022, it was confirmed that Freedom would be a speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), thus strongly hinting that he leans right on the political spectrum.
CONFIRMED: @EnesFreedom
It’s tough to know where Freedom truly stands on the political spectrum because he openly criticized former United States President Donald Trump back in 2016 and supported current President Joe Biden when he was the President-Elect.
Congrats to my great friend, President-Elect @JoeBiden 🇺🇸
Thank you for supporting innocent people in Turkey, standing tall for Democracy, Freedom, Human Rights and standing against Dictatorship in Turkey from day one.
No matter where he stands, one thing for sure is that Freedom will speak his mind on a subject if he feels he needs to talk about it. Even though, according to the horse’s mouth, he was told by his teammates to stop.
Freedom was Warned by Celtics Teammates
In an interview with ReasonTV, Freedom said that during his second go-round in Boston, multiple teammates warned him that speaking out against Nike and China would lead to his NBA career ending once the season was over.
“I remember my teammates were coming to me one by one in the locker room and saying, ‘You know this is your last year, right?’ You’re not going to be able to get any contract after this.’ They were telling me, ‘Listen, you attack Nike. You attack China. You won’t play another minute for this league ever again.’ I was like, wow, they were really telling me (that) this is it. Just because I was talking about the situation happening in China. I expose Nike and some other companies and stuff.”
Freedom insisted on speaking out anyway and continues to do so. He believes that speaking out against China was what led to the NBA blackballing him.
Freedom Says Speaking Out Ended His Career
In an interview with Israel outlet Walla, Freedom said that because his words about China could potentially hurt the NBA’s profits, the league has frozen him out.
“Listen, the Chinese market is a significant part of the business in the NBA,” Freedom explained. “So they will allow you to talk freely about what you want until it hurts their pocket. As soon as you do that, they will cut you. It is very sad and unacceptable.”
Freedom added that he does not regret what he said because he believes that what he stands for is bigger than his basketball career.
“I knew in advance that I would pay this price, and I regret nothing. These things are bigger than me, bigger than the NBA, and bigger than basketball. While I dribble in America, people are being killed all over the world or imprisoned and tortured in prisons. If this is the sacrifice I have to make, I’m ready to live with it.”