When Enes Kanter Freedom was a member of the Utah Jazz, he was only known by his more conventional birth name. Since that time, the Swiss-born, Turkish-raised pivot man has become too passionate about his political views to not be directly associated with them.
Former Utah Jazz player Enes Kanter Freedom rallying against corporations
Lately, Freedom has been causing quite a stir. More than just adding Freedom to his name, he’s been passionately advocating for the causes closest to his heart. It seems that the former Utah Jazz bigman is deeply concerned with what he perceives as the unethical actions of mega corporations like Nike.
“I feel like we need to be careful of what we are wearing, because every time you put those items on your feet or back, there’s so much blood or sweat or oppression on those items, so be careful” said Freedom recently.
Here at the J-Notes, we typically avoid political discourse. We assume that you come here to read about the Utah Jazz. Nonetheless, the former Jazzman’s actions of late are too notable to ignore. Perhaps most explosively, he seems to be directly targeting Nike sponsored athlete LeBron James.
“I don’t know if he’s educated enough, but I’m here to educate him and I’m here to help him” said Freedom of the NBA superstar.
To summarize: Oh, my. On the one hand, Freedom’s desire to speak up about ethical business practices is admirable. On the other, it may not be prudent to directly target James, who is himself concerned with philanthropy and trying to use his platform to impact positive change in the world.
This is an entire can of worms that we’re just not going to entirely open. At the same time, Utah Jazz fans keeping tabs on former players are welcome to their own opinions about Freedom’s recent actions.
Far be it from us to tell Enes Kanter Freedom to, as LeBron James himself was once upsettingly told, shut up and dribble. We would never. Athletes are human beings, and accordingly, they have opinions. Nonetheless, we’re going to opt to shut up and write (about the Utah Jazz) in regards to this particular issue.