Celtics center Enes Kanter begins season with anti-Xi Jinping campaign
Beijing has blacked out all Celtics games for the 2021–22 season, but will the CPC stop there, or could Kanter become the NBA’s next China casualty?
Professional athletes who speak out against the tyranny of man aren’t inspired to do so until their sports careers are in jeopardy. Rookies and franchise players rarely exhibit such behavior. In America, such actions guarantee attention rather than achieve the desired goal.
Among NBA players, Ernes Kanter isn’t a household name. After 11 years in the league, the 6’11 center was nearing the end of his career when the Celtics re-signed him with a one-year contract. Kanter will earn the league veteran minimum of $2.7 million for the season.
In 2019, Kanter played for the Portland Trailblazers. Turkey blocked the NBA Western Conference Finals when they played against the Golden State Nuggets after Kanter publicly criticized Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan. Turkey doesn’t hold a significant NBA market presence, so the Turkish center’s comments weren’t as newsworthy or detrimental to the league.
Unsurprisingly, Kanter’s actions did not impact Turkey or result in Erdogan being removed from office. Turkey has issued ten arrest warrants with Kanter’s name on them, which have served as good publicity to those who have been paying attention. Other than that, Turkey hasn’t changed.
The Celtics barely made the playoffs last year with a 36–36 regular-season record and lost in the first round to the Brooklyn Nets. It’s likely this season will be similar, so Kanter shouldn’t jeopardize post-season revenue from the Chinese market. Also, China’s decision to block the Celtics during the regular season won’t be a significant revenue loss for the NBA. Should Kanter continue his anti-Xi rhetoric, Beijing could ratchet up the penalties and cancel the NBA.
When Houston Rockets General Manager Darrel Morey retweeted his support for Hong Kong, China canceled the NBA. Morey was fired but landed with the Philadelphia 76’s where he has remained quiet.
Kanter’s shoe deal is with Nike. The company’s CEO recently pledged allegiance to China. As a gesture of business goodwill, it wouldn’t be surprising if the CEO issued a statement denouncing Kanter.
In Kanter’s video, he reads from material positioned off-camera. Was he reciting his words or someone else’s? As Kanter has been focused on Turkish politics, his “Free Tibet” campaign has come out of nowhere.
The 2021–22 NBA season began on October 19. Kanter tweeted his 10th arrest warrant issued by Erdogan. The next day, Kanter launched his anti-Xi campaign on social media with a video message and photos of his Free Tibet basketball shoes. The shoe artwork was provided by Badiucao, a Chinese dissident cartoonist who resides in Australia.
For the season opener loss against the New York Knicks, Kanter watched the game from the bench while wearing his Free Tibet shoes. The following night, in their match-up against the Raptors, Kanter played for five minutes. For the Celtics’ third game, facing off against the Houston Rockets, Kanter again watched the game from the bench as his team won 107–97.
It’s doubtful Kanter’s social media campaign will help Tibet, the Uyghur Muslims, or Taiwan, but it could be fun to watch. At least there’s one person in the public sports arena who isn’t afraid of China. Fuck you, John Cena.
UPDATE: October 26
Kanter continues speaking out against China.
