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.
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| SEASON | TEAM | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–12 | UTA | 66 | 13.2 | 4.6 | 4.2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | .496 | .000 | .667 |
| 2012–13 | UTA | 70 | 15.4 | 7.2 | 4.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.5 | .544 | 1.000 | .795 |
| 2013–14 | UTA | 80 | 26.7 | 12.3 | 7.5 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.5 | .491 | .000 | .730 |
| 2014–15 | UTA | 49 | 27.1 | 13.8 | 7.8 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 | .491 | .317 | .788 |
| JAZZ TOTAL | 4 SEASONS | 265 | 20.4 | 9.3 | 5.9 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 | .501 | .318 | .744 |
Season by season, regular season, with this franchise only. More info: Basketball-Reference ↗ · Wikipedia ↗