NBA veteran Enes Kanter is becoming someone which cannot be ignored, as much as his league wishes it were so.
With the National Basketball Association having a financially lucrative partnership with China, it's mighty inconvenient for them to have a player in their league not mincing words when it comes to that country's egregious record on human rights abuses. And Kanter is calling out the major sponsors and players whom he feels are complicit in this.
Enes Kanter blasted Nike again on Thursday over its use of slave labor in China and attacked fellow basketball star LeBron James, who has a lifetime deal with the company and has not spoken out against its practices.
“Money over Morals for the ‘King,’” Kanter tweeted alongside photos of several pairs of sneakers designed to call attention to Nike’s relationship with China.
The writing on the toes of one pair reads “Principals > Money” and “Morals > Money.”
“Sad & disgusting how these athletes pretend they care about social justice,” he added in the tweet, in which he tagged James and Nike.
He added that athletes “really do ‘shut up & dribble’” when “Big Boss” China tells them to, asserting that James and the NBA have remained silent on China’s human rights abuses to protect the multibillion-dollar relationship.
Money over Morals for the “King” 👑
— Enes Kanter (@EnesKanter) November 18, 2021
Sad & disgusting how these athletes pretend they care about social justice
They really do “shut up & dribble” when Big Boss 🇨🇳 says so
Did you educate yourself about the slave labor that made your shoes or is that not part of your research? pic.twitter.com/YUA8rGYeoZ
Not surprisingly, Kanter has essentially been deemed persona non grata by his Boston Celtics club. Despite averaging double digit points and rebounds over the previous four seasons, Kanter has played in only four of the Celts' 15 games this NBA season. And given he signed only a 1-year/$2.6 million contract this past August, it's not out of the realm of possibility that he may not even be in the league beyond 2022.
Sadly, Kanter is not getting near the publicity as Colin Kaepernick when the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback knelt during the National Anthem throughout the 2016 NFL season. And even more disgraceful is the fact Kanter doesn't have nearly as many allies (if any at all) as Kaepernick did within their respective leagues.
I guess one could say Kanter truly does believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything.
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