NBA China Critic Enes Kanter Freedom Nominated for Nobel Prize
"Everyone thinks I'm a basketball player. Yes, I am a basketball player, but I think what I'm doing is bigger than basketball."
Former Boston Celtic center Enes Kanter Freedom is out of a job, having been traded to Houston and then waived just four days later. It is likely this has happened because of his outspoken criticism of NBA patron-state communist China. (Photo: Danielle Porter/Boston Globe) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Basketball star Enes Kanter Freedom has been nominated for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. The nomination comes as a result of Freedom ― who legally added his last name the same day he became a U.S. citizen in December ― being a vocal critic of communist China and other repressive regimes around the world.
“I’m honored and humbled to receive the nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize,” Freedom wrote on Twitter. “Sometimes taking a stand is more important than your next paycheck.”
Kanter has become an outspoken critic of the NBA’s incestuous relationship with China, as well as criticizing league stars and executives like LeBron James, Jeremy Liu, Michael Jordan, Golden State Warriors investor Chamath Palihapitiya, Nike, and his home country of Turkey and its government for either perpetrating or standing beside countries carrying out human rights abuses.
Freedom’s first entry into the fray was on October 20, just before the season opener of Kanter’s Boston Celtics against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. He released a video on social media that showed him standing against a blank white wall wearing a black T-shirt with an image of the Dalai Lama in prayer.
He wanted to speak about Tibet before Xinjiang ― the province where Muslim Uyghur ethnic Turks, who have lived in China for generations, are tortured, starved and killed ― so that people wouldn’t think he was just supporting fellow Muslims. In the video, Freedom said, “Brutal dictator of China, Xi Jinping, I have a message for you and your henchmen,’ he said, jabbing a finger at the camera. ‘Free Tibet. Free Tibet. Free Tibet.”
This is Kanter’s style of activism — it’s personal. He gets in a dictator’s face, nose to nose, chest to chest, as if Xi Jinping is an opposing center throwing elbows, taking cheap shots, committing flagrant fouls and everyone else is afraid to call him out. “Someone had to do it,” Freedom said.
America’s Conservative Voice managed a telephone interview with Freedom following his becoming a U.S. citizen. We desired to get an inside look at the mixture he has undertaken of basketball and activism. For the first time, we’re publishing the highlights of that session.
Q: Enes, I was impressed with your swearing-in ceremony as a new U.S. citizen and found it interesting that you added “Freedom” as you new surname. Please tell me about that.
Enes: I remember my first time coming to America in 2009, I came here to play basketball and go to school … I remember we were in the locker room and one of my teammates criticized the president of America. And I was very scared for him because I thought that he was going to be thrown in jail.
Swiss-born but a citizen of Turkey, Freedom played for Kentucky in the U.S. and was amazed to discover the freedoms Americans exercise. (Photo: University of Kentucky Sports Information Bureau) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I even asked him … ‘Hey, you know … aren't you scared?’ He turned around and laughed and said, ‘This is not Turkey.’ And he tried to explain to me a little bit about what freedom of speech means. I was still very shocked and amazed at the same time, and I researched, and I found out that not every country in the world is like Turkey.
And that's why I wanted to make that word part of me and carry it everywhere I go. I also want all the young kids out there, NBA fans, sports fans out there, to just research about what freedom means and … why I chose that last name.
Q: Former NBA star Yao Ming invited you to visit China. You accepted his invitation and invited him to visit labor camps with you. Do you think that Yao will come along, and do you think Xi will grant you a visa?
I really wanted to go, and I wanted to go see. But I told him, “I don't want propaganda. I don't want a luxury tour of China. I want to see the real China and show the whole world what's going on over there.” I said that if I'm coming to China, let's go visit (Uyghur) labor camps in Xinjiang, let's go visit Tibet together. Let's go visit Hong Kong. And after that, we can fly to Taiwan and see what democracy means.
And obviously, after I posted that video, I was very shocked that he blocked me on Instagram. I even put a tweet out and said, ‘That's what the little kids do.’ I think what I will say to Yao Ming is: “Stop being a puppet of the Chinese Communist Party. Stop being a mouthpiece of the Communist Party and of Xi Jinping, if you want to have a real conversation, you know where I live. Just come here and we can have a conversation.”
Q: When people search Enes Kanter Freedom using Chinese search engines, there're no results. It's as if you don't exist. What is your response to that?
I remember the first time I put my 'Free Tibet' shoes on my feet. There were two gentlemen from the NBA and they came to me on the bench right before the game and told me that “We are begging you take those shoes off.” And I asked, “Am I breaking any rules?” They said no. Then I told them, “Go tell your boss, whoever it is, (NBA Commissioner) Adam Silver, the Celtics owner, and whoever you're talking to, I'm not taking my shoes off. I don't care if I get banned or if I get fined.” And they said OK.
That game was right before my citizenship test, and I was getting ready for it. There are 27 amendments, and my First Amendment (right) is freedom of speech. I didn't want them to take that away from me.
Early in the NBA season, Freedom wore his specially-designed “Free Tibet” shows. After the game in which he first wore them, two NBA flunkies came to him and begged him never to wear them again. He refused. (Photo: Duane Evers/The New York Post) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Q: Being a basketball player and an activist at the same time, does it get a little bit overwhelming sometimes?
It could get overwhelming, yes. But at the end of the day knowing that you're doing this for innocent people will always give you extra hope and motivation. Everyone thinks I'm a basketball player. Yes, I am a basketball player, but I think what I'm doing is bigger than basketball.
I want to make this very clear: I don't do politics. Some people say that: Stay away from politics, focus on basketball. But there's a big difference between politics and human rights.
I never said vote for this guy, don't vote for this guy. I always say we need to free political prisoners, we need to have human rights, we need to have freedom of speech, we need to bring awareness to countries like Taiwan or Ukraine. So I feel like this is bigger than basketball.
During his time at the Boston Celtics, Freedom alleged that he was “begged” by the NBA to remove his “Free Tibet” sneakers from the court.
Unfortunately, his outspoken criticism may have cost him his job in the NBA. On February 10, Freedom was traded to the Houston Rockets, the NBA's trade deadline. In return, the Celtics received center Daniel Theis from the Rockets. Four days after the trade, the Rockets waived Freedom. He now alleges he was forced out of the league to appease Communist Chinese authorities.
Whether that is true or not, he certainly has a better case than former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick did when he claimed he was blackballed.
The move was a salary dump for the Rockets, who unloaded Theis and his four-year $35.6 million contract while they rebuild. Freedom, a 29-year-old center who plays poor defense, was not going to fit a rebuilding Rockets team. That raises the question, why trade for him, then? Surely there were other players on the Celtics’ roster who would have figured into the Rockets’ future.
Freedom’s minutes had been slashed this year by the Celtics, perhaps because of their defensive identity ― they are the second-best defensive team in the league. The Celtics also played Freedom less than his career average when he was with the team during the 2019-20 season, even before he began speaking out about China’s human rights abuses. From the perspective of both the Celtics and the Rockets (who are nonetheless notoriously bad when it comes to appeasing China), everything checks out ― on the surface.
But if Freedom remains unemployed, he certainly has a good argument other NBA teams are shunning him because of China. With the middling Portland Trailblazers last year, Freedom averaged 24 minutes per game, scoring 11 points and bringing in 11 rebounds (8th best in the league that season) on an average night.
In terms of advanced stats, his 2020-21 season was in line with most of his career. When he plays, he provides some energy on offense and is a solid rebounder, which would make him a quality role player on most teams.
The juxtapositions between him and Kaepernick are clear. Freedom was playing on a one-year $2.6 million contract this season. Kaepernick refused a pay cut to his six-year $114 million contract, which led the Denver Broncos to drop out of trade discussions. Freedom was waived by the Rockets, whereas Kaepernick opted out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers.
Kaepernick played a more important position and played it at a below-average level. The quarterback position is rigid and competitive. At best, Kaepernick projected as a low-level starter who couldn’t lead a playoff team. NBA rotations are more fluid and flexible, and Freedom played significant minutes last year for a playoff team.
And, of course, Freedom did not sabotage future playing opportunities to the degree Kaepernick did. From mourning the deaths of terrorists to his girlfriend publicly denigrating the owner of the Baltimore Ravens to moving his highly publicized workout at the last second and causing several teams to miss it, Kaepernick has torched every opportunity since the 49ers tried to trade him to Denver.
On February 10, the NBA trade deadline, Daniel Theis was acquired by Boston, which sent Enes Kanter Freedom to Houston. Four days later, the Rockets waived Freedom. (Photo Montage: Alex Durban/America’s Conservative Voice) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The same simply can’t be said for Freedom, whose biggest sins are criticizing a genocidal regime and generally playing poor defense.
Whether Freedom ends up on a roster by the end of this season or the start of next year, he has shown he can still play at a level that can help playoff teams, something Kaepernick did not show as he flamed out of the league. Hopefully, another team reaches out to him before next season starts. Otherwise, Freedom has a legitimate complaint with a league that kowtows to China at every turn.
Then there is this.
Hours before being waived by Houston, the 11-year NBA veteran posted a graphic and vulgarity-filled cartoon depicting himself being shot and tortured by China's paramount leader, Xi Jinping, in a South Park-style animation. In the video, the head of the Chinese Communist Party tortures and shoots Freedom with LeBron James looking on.
That may have been the straw that broke the NBA’s back, which has both privately and publicly asked Freedom to tone it down, as China is a major revenue source for the league and several of its superstars like James. Or maybe getting him out of the league was the plan all along. Perhaps the NBA is done with someone it considers “not a team player,” that is, unwilling to genuflect to China and pretend everything was just peachy.
Perhaps all of this drama is what inspired a Norwegian parliament member who reportedly put Freedom up for the Nobel Prize nomination along with 30 Nobel laureates, who wrote a letter to Freedom’s former team, the Boston Celtics, to support his stance on human rights. They cited his strange waiver as suspicious.
Will Freedom win the Nobel Prize for Peace? It’s doubtful, only because the world is afraid of China and won’t risk offending Xi by awarding the Prize to Freedom.
What is apparent is that Enes Kanter Freedom knows more about being an American than most Americans know. Maybe we should follow his example and be more vocal for those who aren’t free to speak for themselves.
Mike Nichols is an advocate of the counterrevolution with a four-step plan to defeat Leftist Fascism: We Organize. We Stand. We Resist. We Fight. He is a regular contributor to several conservative news websites and has a regular blog and Facebook presence at Americas Conservative Voice-Facebook.