Enes Kanter Freedom Says There Are “A Lot” Of NBA Players Who Privately Support Donald Trump But Are Afraid To Admit It Publicly

No real surprise they're afraid to speak out. The NBA has received a lot of criticism in recent years for their focus on social issues like racism and sexism, turning off viewers who just wanted to tune in to watch a basketball game and not be shamed as a racist because of their political views. It's a strategy that hasn't really seemed to pay off for the league, as their viewership continues to tank and commissioner Adam Silver tries to find new ways to get people to watch like...shortening the game. Bold strategy, let's see if it pays off. Of course the league has also been criticized over its ties to China, like back in 2019 when then-Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey posted a tweet supporting the people of Hong Kong who were protesting human rights violations by the Chinese government. NBA owners have billions of dollars in businesses in China, and the league itself has sought to strengthen its relationship with the communist country. NBA China was formed in 2008 to manage the league's business operations in China, and Silver expressing hope that the league would again host basketball games in China in the future. Those games were ended after Morey's tweet, which he later deleted while issuing an apology to China. LeBron James also criticized Morey, calling the GM "misinformed" and claiming that his tweet was hurtful to the people of China. But the damage was done, with Silver estimating that losses from the fallout could amount to $400 million for the league - all because Morey spoke out against the government of China and in support of protestors who sought to protect human rights. So yeah, not exactly a lot of moral high ground in the NBA these days. But one player who wasn't afraid to buck the league's narrative was Enes Kanter Freedom. Kanter, who spent 11 seasons in the league with teams like the Utah Jazz, the Boston Celtics, the Portland Trailblazers and the New York Knicks, was born to Turkish parents and immigrated to the United States as a teenager. During his career, he often spoke about human rights abuses from the Turkish government, and at one point was even charged by the Turkish government and had his citizenship revoked over his activism. In 2017, the star center was even forced to flee a basketball camp in Indonesia after government agents attempted to arrest him, and he had trouble returning to the United States after his passport was canceled by the Turkish government. And in 2019, Kanter decided against traveling with his team on multiple trips outside of the United States out of fear that his life could be in danger, and the FBI even issued him a secure communications device to alert them to any credible threats on his life. That hasn't stopped Kanter from speaking out politically though, including criticizing Chinese president Xi Jinping as a "brutal dictator" appearing on networks like Fox News and CNN to advocate for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in China. Kanter last played in the NBA back in 2022, when he was traded to the Houston Rockets on February 10. However, he was waived just a few days later, which he believes was a result of his criticism of the Chinese government. But Kanter has no regrets about speaking out, becoming an American citizen back in 2021 and immediately changing his legal name to Enes Kanter Freedom as a show of pride for his new country. And in a recent interview, he revealed that he wasn't alone in his beliefs during his time in the NBA - but that his fellow players and coaches were just afraid to speak out publicly. Kanter Freedom appeared OutKick's Don't @ Me With Dan Dakich, where he was asked if he believed any NBA players would come out in support of Trump. But Kanter said there were already plenty of Trump supporters in the league, and that he received praise in private for his appearances on Fox News:

"I remember the first time I joined Fox News. I remember I walked in the locker room, I was getting these dirty looks. I was like, 'Why are you guys giving me these dirty looks?' It was like, 'Well, because we watched your interview last night.'

I was like, 'Did you guys listen?' 'Oh, no, it was on mute.' 'I was like, well, then I literally talked about human rights violations in China.'

'Well, you can go to CNN, you can go to MSNBC, but when you go to Fox just don't really talk to us.'

I was very surprised because I did not know nothing about things were that bad, because as a whole you don't know.

After I actually joined Fox, it became viral, and I remember some of my teammates and some of my assistant coaches used to come up to me on the court and whisper in my ear, 'Hey, man, we watched you last night, me and my family support you keep doing what you're doing.'

I'm like, 'Dude, why are you whispering?' It's like, 'Well, we don't want other ones know that we watch Fox or we support Trump or we support Republicans.'

I'm like, you know we live in America, right? We don't live in Syria. We don't live in the third world countries."

Of course it's not really a surprise that NBA players and coaches would be concerned about expressing their public support for anything right-leaning, given the NBA's treatment of Morey after he spoke out against human rights abuses by China and their focus on left-leaning causes in recent years. But Kanter says there are actually "lots" of players who support Trump that are too scared to speak out because of the affect that it could have on their career:

"But yes, to your question, yes, there are lots of players actually supporting President Trump, supporting Republicans, watching Fox News and stuff, but they are too scared to come out because once they come out of there, they're going to get a lot of hate."

His comments echo those from country singer John Rich, who recently said there were many "top tier" country artists who support Trump privately but are afraid to speak out and make their support known publicly.

It seems like we've seen a culture shift in recent years though, with more and more athletes like NFL players and celebrities coming out and publicly supporting Trump and criticizing some of the insanity we've seen from the left in the past few years. Though from Kanter's comments, it's probably going to be a while before we see the same from NBA players.