NBA Commissioner Adam Silver referred to the New York Knicks center, Enes Kanter, and his issues with the Turkish government.
“My stance is that I think it’s very unfortunate that Enes Kanter is not here with the New York Knicks. I absolutely understand his reasoning why he elected not to come. Certainly there was never a suggestion from the league that he was not welcome to come on this trip.
But, we live in a world where these are really significant issues that he is dealing with, and I recognize that for the NBA, that by virtue of the fact that we’re a global business, we have to pay a lot of attention to these issues as well,” said Silver, prior to the 2019 NBA London Games between the Washington Wizards and the New York Knicks.
“I will say there’s nothing more important to me as the Commissioner of the league than the security and the safety of our players. So we take very seriously the threats that he’s received, even if it’s just people on social media.
And again, I support Enes as a player in this league, and I support the platform that our players have to speak out on issues that are important to them,” the Commissioner of the league added.
Kanter didn’t travel with the Knicks to London, as he was afraid of his life.
