NBA player Enes Freedom (previously Kanter) has been nominated for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. “I’m honored and humbled to receive the nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize,” Freedom wrote on Twitter. “Sometimes taking a stand is more important than your next paycheck.”
Source: EuroHoops.net
What’s the buzz on Twitter?
Eurohoops @Eurohoopsnet
Enes Kanter Freedom has been nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize
eurohoops.net/en/nba-news/13… – 3:01 PM
Kerry Eggers @kerryeggers
With all the fuss about @Enes Kanter Freedom and the NBA’s alleged blackball because of his comments on China, would the @Portland Trail Blazers pass on signing the waived veteran center who played so well for them in two stints?
#ripcity – 5:53 PM
Tom Westerholm @Tom_NBA
(PSA: the people who say Enes is being blackballed and is one of the best centers in the world are trying to get you to angrily QT them) – 5:50 PM
Sean Highkin @highkin
Enes Kanter is the biggest loser of the Blazers’ front-office changes earlier this season because the GM who signed him three (3) different times is no longer employed. – 5:06 PM
Adam Spolane @AdamSpolane
By waiving Enes Freedom the Rockets have an open roster spot to convert one of their 2-way guys, which is what they did with Garrison Mathews, who was signed to a 4-year deal in December – 5:25 PM
Jonathan Feigen @Jonathan_Feigen
Rockets as expected houstonchronicle.com/texas-sports-n… waive center Enes Freedom. (Deleted a tweet that included his previous last name.) – 5:04 PM
Adam Wexler @AdamJWexler
#Rockets announce that they have waived Enes Freedom. – 5:02 PM
Cayleigh Griffin @cayleighgriffin
The Rockets announced that they have waived Enes Freedom. – 5:00 PM
Keith Smith @KeithSmithNBA
Now that the Boston-Houston trade is complete, the Rockets have waived Enes Freedom. – 5:00 PM
Marc Stein @TheSteinLine
The Rockets say they have waived Enes Freedom. – 5:00 PM
Alykhan Bijani @Rockets_Insider
The #Rockets have waived center Enes Freedom. – 5:00 PM
More on this storyline
According to the Atlantic story, a Norwegian Parliament member put Freedom up for nomination while 30 Nobel laureates issued a letter in which they asked the Boston Celtics – Freedom’s former club – to support him by standing with him “on the right side of history” and keeping him on the team. -via EuroHoops.net / February 17, 2022
A senior official with the National Basketball Players Association, Kanter’s own union, kept calling and asking him not to wear anti-China shoes. “I talked about Turkey 10 years, not one phone call,” Kanter told me. “I talked about China one day, I’m getting phone calls every hour.” He told the union rep not to call again. When Kanter reached Adam Silver, they spoke for half an hour. Silver told him that he was free to say whatever he wanted with his shoes; nonetheless, at the end of the conversation, according to Kanter, Silver remarked, “Everyone knows it’s business.” Kanter took this to mean: You’re free to talk about China, but you, your team, and the NBA might face consequences. -via The Atlantic / February 16, 2022
Friends around the league advised him to enjoy the season because it was going to be his last. Freedom claims that he hasn’t been shunned by teammates, that he gets quiet support. Once, he told me, as he was getting ready to shoot a free throw, a Lakers player murmured: “Listen, man, what you’re doing is so brave, keep speaking up—but I can’t talk about it. These teams got us.” -via The Atlantic / February 16, 2022
