Enes Kanter has been a vocal critic of the Chinese government of late. Now, he’s calling out Nike and potentially LeBron James for being “scared to speak up.”
The Boston Celtics center accused the sportswear company of using slave labor in the production of its shoes in a video before debuting his most direct sneakers yet in a game against the Charlotte Hornets.
On Tuesday he followed those messages up asking Nike co-founder Phil Knight, LeBron James and Michael Jordan to accompany him to China for further investigation.
“To the owner of Nike, Phil Knight,” Kanter publicly asked on Twitter.
“How about I book plane tickets for us and let’s fly to China Together. We can try to visit these SLAVE labor camps and you can see it with your own eyes. (LeBron James, Michael Jordan) you guys are welcome to come too.”
Clearly, Kanter is not backing down after his original criticism of Chinese President Xi Jinping, as he uses his platform to call for Tibetan independence.
As a result, the Chinese government pulled all broadcasts of Celtics games, causing a new road block between the NBA and the lucrative fanbase it has overseas.
Celtics coach Ime Udoka recently said no one from the organization has spoken to Kanter about his comments and activism as “he has the freedom to say what he wants.”
We’ll see if the NBA responds after what happened in 2019, when Daryl Morey, then-general manager of the Houston Rockets, spoke in support of protestors in Hong Kong in 2019 and lost what the league estimates to have been around $400 million.
