Speculation about whether Enes Kanter, Oklahoma City Thunder player and one-half of the beloved Stache Bros with Steven Adams, will be traded from the team seems to have hovered over the 6-foot-11-inch centers high-perching head for more than a year.
Though perhaps places like New York City, Los Angeles or Indianapolis could be in Kanters playing future, one location we know he wont find himself in anytime soon is his native country Turkey.
The player recently made worldwide headlines when he was detained at a Romanian airport after discovering his home country had canceled his passport. Kanter told USA Today he believes it was canceled for past comments he made. The player has been critical of Turkeys government and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom he has called the Hitler of our century.
Wow! Invoking the name of Adolf Hitler? In many cases, that is a sign that ones argument is going nowhere, but there are plenty of reasons for Kanter to be upset with Erdogan. The president recently extended a state of emergency in Turkey that has so far resulted in the arrests of more than 140,000 people, including 120 journalists, who were accused of inciting a failed coup.
Kanter was eventually cleared to fly again and made his way back to the United States May 21. After arriving, he tweeted Well! Hello, the most beautiful country in the world. The United States of America.
(Waves. Howdy, Enes! Welcome home!)
The player has also stated his intention to become a U.S. citizen.
If travel-loving Kanter is forced stateside for the rest of the summer, there should be plenty for him to do here. The metro is no Grecian beach, but we think Kanter will have plenty of fun dominating some summer volleyball at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballparks Bricktown Beach.