Enes Freedom

One collector is trying to find a single signature from every man who ever played for the Jazz — all 370 of them, from the 1974 New Orleans team to today. For many of them, this page is the only one on the internet. Here is Enes Freedom: what he did on the floor, a few things most people never knew, and every card that carries his name. If you own something he signed — or you know who might — there is a note at the foot of this page.

Drafted third overall by Utah in 2011 after the NCAA ruled him permanently ineligible for Kentucky over payments from Fenerbahçe, the young Turkish center played every game as a rookie and improved each year — including a 23-point, 22-rebound night against Charlotte in 2013 — before a February 2015 trade to Oklahoma City. He played 11 NBA seasons in all.

Born in Switzerland to Kurdish parents and raised in Van, Turkey, he became far more than a ballplayer. Now an American citizen known as Enes Kanter Freedom, he is a bestselling author, a 2022 Nobel Peace Prize nominee and an outspoken critic of human rights abuses in Turkey, China and beyond — and, briefly, a WWE 24/7 Champion.

HOW HE CAME & WENTUtah took him third overall in 2011 — the same draft that brought Alec Burks. By early 2015 his minutes were swinging in a rotation with Gobert, Favors and Trevor Booker, he asked publicly to be traded, and on February 19 the Jazz sent him to Oklahoma City. The job went to Rudy Gobert.

Full name

Enes Kanter Freedom

Utah Jazz tenure

2011–15

Position

Center

Born

1992, Zurich, Switzerland

Height

6′10″ (208 cm)

Weight

249 lb (113 kg)

Drafted

2011, 1st round (No. 3), Utah