Enes Kanter shoes in tonight’s game had LeBron bowing to China.

[Goomba3666]

Lebron stans in this thread denying the Uighur genocide to defend Lebron is the Final Boss cult behavior.

I REALLY can't wait until this dude retires and takes his fans with him into irrelevance.

[Tracymcgoaty]

Well why he's prioritizing something that he doesn't know much about

Dude nobody knows for certain what is going on in Xinjiang. We operate on the information thats been given to us and then decide wheter we believe it to be credible or not.

So you don't care about sources , if Jeff Bozo's news outlet claim there is a genocide in China but they don't present any legit source you will still take that as the gospel Haven't we learned enough by know how the Pentagon and the State Department are operating , Iraq's weapons of mass destruction , they can say blatant lie to entire world and then proceed to wreck entire country and to destabilize entire region for decades , and there wont be any consequences for those people and they will continue doing that to many other countries, because they have power to do that .

I am putting myself in Kanters shoes. Kanter is not a journalist or some historian he's an NBA player who happens to be of a muslim faith. Information on whats going on in Xinjiang involves his fellow muslims.

[bebopdeluxe]

He's the fake activist guy , he's the fake tough guy on the court, it reflects everywhere , his fakeness , he let his own government committing crimes all around the world yet he's talking about China who have never attacked USA. First sort your own backyard mate then do the others

Personally, I think you're a bonafide troll, lol. Do go on though, there's nothing quite like exercising a little free speech to expose (to use one of RealGM's favorite terms) oneself.

What is that quote about it is better to stay quiet and have people think you are a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt?

[bebopdeluxe]

MLKj sacrificed. What has Kanter sacrificed? Nothing at all. It’s easy to talk when you have nothing on the line. He is still collecting NBA checks. Wearing Nikes.

What a stupid comment. Kanter has been banned from his home country of Turkey for taking a stand against its government. He gets non stop death threats. I may not agree with him on certain things but there is no doubt he has sacrificed far more than most people.

Sent from my SM-G988U using RealGM mobile app

I’m talking about in regards to CHINA, what has Kanter sacrificed.

He is sacrificing the very real possibility that he is on his last NBA contract, as NBA GM's will likely be told by their owners to pass on re-signing him because he will be too toxic for the team relative to China.

WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND PEOPLE?

[Shock Defeat]

What a stupid comment. Kanter has been banned from his home country of Turkey for taking a stand against its government. He gets non stop death threats. I may not agree with him on certain things but there is no doubt he has sacrificed far more than most people.

Sent from my SM-G988U using RealGM mobile app

I’m talking about in regards to CHINA, what has Kanter sacrificed.

He is sacrificing the very real possibility that he is on his last NBA contract, as NBA GM's will likely be told by their owners to pass on re-signing him because he will be too toxic for the team relative to China.

WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND PEOPLE?

Kanter has been at this for a couple years now. He’s still gotten contracts and the Celtics resigned him at the start of this year. Morey is still employed in the nba.

The nba typically does not blackball people for expressing views as long as it’s not racist like Sterling. If Kanter doesn’t get a contract again, it will be due to his play not his statements about China.

[KnicksGadfly]

I’m talking about in regards to CHINA, what has Kanter sacrificed.

He is sacrificing the very real possibility that he is on his last NBA contract, as NBA GM's will likely be told by their owners to pass on re-signing him because he will be too toxic for the team relative to China.

WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND PEOPLE?

Kanter has been at this for a couple years now. He’s still gotten contracts and the Celtics resigned him at the start of this year. Morey is still employed in the nba.

The nba typically does not blackball people for expressing views as long as it’s not racist like Sterling. If Kanter doesn’t get a contract again, it will be due to his play not his statements about China.

Nice, you’re resorting to the Colin Kaepernick argument now.

[Tor_Raps]

While I enjoy talking smack about Lebron on the court here and there, i don't think Kanter went about this right. It's unfair to expect any human being to be out front for every social issue in the world.

Rather than focus on the areas Lebron does not cover, why not talk about all the great he does for his community?

Any person who wants to talk trash about Lebron in this area better be doing much more than him even though I truly feel this part of life should not be a competition. Just do as much goodness as you can without having to take someone else down to prop yourself up.

[DusterBuster]

I respect Kanter for speaking out against China, but so weird that he's singling out LeBron. He has teammates with Nike deals.

Yeah, it’s one thing to speak out which I respect, it’s another to just go after a fellow NBA player in this way. There’s better ways to go about this than pissing off coworkers and calling them out in public.

[KnicksGadfly]

I respect Kanter for speaking out against China, but so weird that he's singling out LeBron. He has teammates with Nike deals.

Yeah, it’s one thing to speak out which I respect, it’s another to just go after a fellow NBA player in this way. There’s better ways to go about this than pissing off coworkers and calling them out in public.

Y’all gotta realize, Lebron brought a lot of this on himself. I actually didn’t think he needed to take responsibility on China before. It would be great if he used his platform to do that, but he didn’t need to.

But, when someone actually did take a risk and do that, Lebron James was the first guy to talk about how China was being victimized and how Daryl Morey should be punished, and THAT is what pisses me off more than anything. If you want an example of a guy who managed to stay neutral, look at Adam Silver. He stayed out of the fray but he also let Morey have his say. But Lebron, who is a pretty educated guy, a savvy businessman, and a pretty socially conscious guy, chose that moment to back up an authoritarian regime and also try to shut up the one guy who was trying to make a small statement. And by the way, China did end up seizing Hong Kong and people are being stripped of their rights there. Lebron wouldn’t have changed anything but he didn’t need to align himself either.

So yea, like it or not, I don’t think Lebron gets to go back to being neutral anymore.

[bebopdeluxe]

I’m talking about in regards to CHINA, what has Kanter sacrificed.

He is sacrificing the very real possibility that he is on his last NBA contract, as NBA GM's will likely be told by their owners to pass on re-signing him because he will be too toxic for the team relative to China.

WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND PEOPLE?

Kanter has been at this for a couple years now. He’s still gotten contracts and the Celtics resigned him at the start of this year. Morey is still employed in the nba.

The nba typically does not blackball people for expressing views as long as it’s not racist like Sterling. If Kanter doesn’t get a contract again, it will be due to his play not his statements about China.

We will see. I hope that you are right.

[JellosJigglin]

Wish Lakers traded Lebron for Enes. Hate having this hypocrite on my team.

[bebopdeluxe]

I respect Kanter for speaking out against China, but so weird that he's singling out LeBron. He has teammates with Nike deals.

Yeah, it’s one thing to speak out which I respect, it’s another to just go after a fellow NBA player in this way. There’s better ways to go about this than pissing off coworkers and calling them out in public.

I agree somewhat…but somebody needed to call LeBron out on that RIDICULOUS comment about how Morey “had to get educated” about the issues surrounding Hong Kong.

For someone who want to view themselves as active in social justice issues, that was a pretty brutal own-goal.

[bisme37]

He is sacrificing the very real possibility that he is on his last NBA contract, as NBA GM's will likely be told by their owners to pass on re-signing him because he will be too toxic for the team relative to China.

WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND PEOPLE?

Kanter has been at this for a couple years now. He’s still gotten contracts and the Celtics resigned him at the start of this year. Morey is still employed in the nba.

The nba typically does not blackball people for expressing views as long as it’s not racist like Sterling. If Kanter doesn’t get a contract again, it will be due to his play not his statements about China.

We will see. I hope that you are right.

Kanter says the league is perfectly fine with his stance and encourages players to speak their mind.

Boston Celtics star Enes Kanter says he felt encouraged to speak out against China after the NBA supported players in fighting other injustices and human rights issues.

In recent months, Kanter has used social media posts and specially designed clothing during NBA games to bring awareness to China's treatment of the Uyghur community, Tibet, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

His posts and comments have caused a backlash in China with Celtics games being pulled by Chinese video-streaming site Tencent and the government criticizing the 29-year-old's comments.

Kanter told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview that despite speaking out on issues such as Black Lives Matter, the NBA has stayed silent on China -- highlighting its struggle in balancing player activism with the lucrative Chinese market.

"NBA made me do this," Kanter said. "Because every time when one of the NBA teams or the commissioner comes out to speak, they say we are encouraging players to talk about whatever they want to talk about.

"We are giving freedom to our players to talk about all the injustices happening around the world, all the human rights abuses around the world. So, they gave me this right."

Kanter says he sat down privately with NBA officials and commissioner Adam Silver, who says Silver has backed Kanter's right to freedom of speech.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/10/sport/enes-kanter-encouraged-nba-speak-out-china-amanpour-spt-intl/index.html

[rapstarter]

lol at people acting surprised he went after LeBron. Y'all forget LeBron's quite frankly embarrassing comment regarding China a couple years ago? It looks like Kanter's achieved what he set out to do with this anyway. It's just funny to see some people trying really hard to change the topic and talk about whether Kanter is brave or not when that's not even important.

[Dirk]

Whatever you think of Lebron's stance on China --- and I also think it was pretty bad and embarrassing --- it's still beyond ridiculous that a fellow NBA player is wearing shoes with Lebron bowing to China.

That isn't "speaking your mind" or "freedom of speech". I am surprised the league lets Kanter do this... imagine if it became a trend to mock other players.

[NyKnicks1714]

Wish Lakers traded Lebron for Enes. Hate having this hypocrite on my team.

IIRC you're a die-hard Kobe fan. Are you condemning his relations with China as well, or did you ever? (The answer is no)

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/30/china-basketball-kobe-bryant-nba-united-states/

Bryant was even declared a cultural ambassador by the Asia Society in 2009 at a ceremony attended by the Communist Party politician and sports director Liu Peng. Bryant visited China during every off season and continued to visit frequently after his retirement. He attended store openings, held clinics to teach basketball skills, and made high-profile visits to classic Chinese sites like the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an. Everywhere he went, he was mobbed with fans.

Or perhaps you're just using this as a way to criticize a player you hate, without any care for the actual issues at hand.

[bisme37]

Whatever you think of Lebron's stance on China --- and I also think it was pretty bad and embarrassing --- it's still beyond ridiculous that a fellow NBA player is wearing shoes with Lebron bowing to China.

That isn't "speaking your mind" or "freedom of speech". I am surprised the league lets Kanter do this... imagine if it became a trend to mock other players.

I don't disagree. Kanter has been at this for years and he seems to be getting peak attention now that he dragged Bron into it. So that has to be the point from his perspective, to get attention on the cause. Which is a good aim and result.

But I'm uncomfortable with him mocking fellow players and wish he'd gone about it differently. Just seems like an affront to the NBA fraternity.

[NyKnicks1714]

Whatever you think of Lebron's stance on China --- and I also think it was pretty bad and embarrassing --- it's still beyond ridiculous that a fellow NBA player is wearing shoes with Lebron bowing to China.

That isn't "speaking your mind" or "freedom of speech". I am surprised the league lets Kanter do this... imagine if it became a trend to mock other players.

I don't disagree. Kanter has been at this for years and he seems to be getting peak attention now that he dragged Bron into it. So that has to be the point from his perspective, to get attention on the cause. Which is a good aim and result.

But I'm uncomfortable with him mocking fellow players and wish he'd gone about it differently. Just seems like an affront to the NBA fraternity.

I'd be fine with him singling out a player, but only if that player deserves to be singled out. To single out a player for something the whole league is guilty of is a bad look.

[Goomba3666]

Don't talk about Enes Kanter and his sacrifices.

Again, the guy has gone after 3 Right Wing authoritarian figures in the last 5 years:

Xi
Trump
Erdogan

Probably has a substantial amount of money on his head from the henchmen of those 3 figures alone.

By publicly going after Lebron and China, he's now risking his economic security with the league while making Nike angry as well.

Dude has some massive stones.

[NyKnicks1714]

Don't talk about Enes Kanter and his sacrifices.

Again, the guy has gone after 3 Right Wing authoritarian figures in the last 5 years:

Xi
Trump
Erdogan

Probably has a substantial amount of money on his head from the henchmen of those 3 figures alone.

By publicly going after Lebron and China, he's now risking his economic security with the league while making Nike angry as well.

Dude has some massive stones.

He's risking his economic security, as there's a non-zero chance he could eventually get blackballed from the NBA, but his life isn't in jeopardy unless he steps foot in Turkey or China.