Enes Freedom (former Enes Kanter) has been an outspoken critic of the Chinese government and those he deems too sympathetic to China.
Freedom has also fallen out of the NBA after 11 years in the league.
The center began the season with the Celtics but played a career-low 12 minutes per game. They traded him to the Rockets, who waived him.
Freedom, via Sopan Deb of The New York Times:“I don’t want to retire at the age of 29,” Freedom said.
“Sometimes,” he added, “sacrifice is a very important word, so there are bigger things.”
Did Kanter lose his job because he criticized China’s oppressiveness and authoritarianism? Maybe. The NBA has clear financial incentives to avoid triggering China’s wrath and has sometimes bent to expand/maintain its reach in the country.
But Kanter was not nearly as effective as usual this season at his biggest strength – interior scoring. He has long been a defensive liability. Boston has flourished defensively this season in large part by putting five quality defenders on the floor, giving opponents no weak spot to attack. The rebuilding Rockets had little basketball reason to use a roster spot on someone who appears to be past his peak.
As the league has gone smaller, center has become the NBA’s deepest position. Practically everyone who would’ve been a power forward/center in a previous era is now exclusively a center. Many former power forwards are now centers. Some prior combo forwards and even small forwards are now primarily centers.
It wouldn’t be shocking for a limited player like Kanter without firm political stances to be unsigned.
Nor would it be shocking for that player to be providing depth to an NBA team’s bench.
We should vigilantly watch for signs of players facing de facto bans due to their speech, especially when that speech is advocating for freedom for others. But it’s often difficult to find strong evidence, let alone proof.