Boston Celtics’ Enes Kanter, a vocal critic of the Chinese Communist Party and other NBA personalities, has announced his plan to change his last name to “Freedom.”
New country, new name: NBA Insider Shams Charania first broke the news of the 29-year-old Turkish athlete’s name change.
- The center, who will go by the full name of Enes Kanter Freedom, shared that his new last name “comes from what his teammates have been calling him.”
- The official name change will happen after Kanter’s U.S. citizenship oath on Monday, his team’s manager, Hank Fetic, told the Associated Press.
- Kanter reportedly passed his citizenship test early last week.
Making headlines: Kanter has been making the news over the past month for his strong stance against the Chinese government and Nike’s alleged use of a Chinese factory linked to forced Uyghur.
- Kanter has called Chinese leader Xi Jinping a “brutal dictator” and “insecure tyrant” in past tweets.
- He is also outspoken about several geopolitical issues involving China, most notably those about Tibet and Taiwan. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen thanked the Celtics player for showing his support in a video released early in November.
- Kanter has also called out several NBA personalities, including Los Angeles star LeBron James, retired NBA legend Michael Jordan and Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai.
Featured Image via @eneskanter11
