Enes Kanter

Enes Kanter

Enes Kanter is a Swiss-born stateless professional basketball player of Turkish origin for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association. Kanter was originally selected as the third overall pick of the 2011 NBA draft by the Utah Jazz. He is a political activist, critic of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and supporter of the Gülen movement, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey.

About Enes Kanter in brief

Summary Enes KanterEnes Kanter is a Swiss-born stateless professional basketball player of Turkish origin for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association. Kanter was originally selected as the third overall pick of the 2011 NBA draft by the Utah Jazz. He is a political activist, critic of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and supporter of the Gülen movement, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey. A long-time professional wrestling fan, he briefly held the WWE 247 Championship for the first time in 2019. At the 2010 Nike Hoop Summit, Kanter played for the international team, recording 34 points and 13 rebounds. He also recorded the most rebounds for the Jazz rookie in every regular-season game. In the 2012-13 season, he had the first-high points and rebounds of his career with 23-20 points and 22-20 rebounds in his career-high game of 70-20 against the Los Angeles Lakers on March 1, 2013. He has three younger siblings: two brothers and one sister. He attended Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nevada, and then Mountain State Academy in Beckley, West Virginia. He then attended Stoneridge Preparatory School in Simi Valley, California, where he was able to play basketball for a season. From 2010 to 2011, he attended one year of college at the University of Kentucky, although he was declared permanently ineligible to play with the basketball team by the NCAA. He played in at least nine games with the team: four in the EuroLeague and five in the Turkish Super League.

In 2011–12, he became the first Turkish-born player in NBA history to appear in every NBA lockout-free season. He was drafted third overall by theUtah Jazz in the 2011NBA draft. He signed his rookie scale contract with the Jazz on 9 December 2011, following the conclusion of the NBA lockout. On 27 December 2012, he made his Jazz rookie debut with 11 points and 4 rebounds in 66 games against the L.A. Lakers. On 1 March 2013, he averaged 7 and 4 points and 3 rebounds per game per game against the LA Lakers. He went on to play in the 2012 NBA All-Star Game in New York City against the New York Knicks. In 2014, he played in the All-star Game in Los Angeles against the Brooklyn Nets, scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. In 2015, he was selected as one of the top 10 players in the NBA All Star Game by ESPN.com. His father, Mehmet Kanter, is a professor of histology and genetics at Trakya University. His mother was a nurse. He lived in Ankara and then moved to Istanbul to play professional basketball as a teen. He declined professional contracts, but he wanted to play high school and college basketball in the United States. He chose Washington over UCLA, USC, Indiana and UNLV, and on April 14, 2010, he signed a National Letter of Intent to play college basketball for Kentucky. However, despite signing with the Kentucky Wildcats, the NCAA declared him permanently ineligible.