Enes Kanter Freedom goes scorched Earth on LeBron James, NBA with new revelations after WNBA Finals incident
Enes Kanter Freedom goes scorched Earth on LeBron James, NBA with new revelations after WNBA Finals incident
Enes Kanter Freedom has come forward with new allegations regarding the culture of the during his playing career and sent a warning to the WNBA amid his ongoing feud regarding the league's gender eligibility policy.
Freedom's new statements come one day after the tried to direct him to sit in a private luxury suite at Game 3 of the WNBA Finals in Atlanta instead of the courtside seat he purchased, amid security concerns. The change in arrangement resulted in a highly-publicized encounter with police at the entrance of State Farm Arena, which resulted in Freedom leaving the venue entirely amid disagreements over where he wanted to sit.
Now Freedom is revealing that his former Boston Celtics teammate Dennis Schröder privately questioned LeBron James motives as an activist, and that his Celtics teammates once shunned him for making an appearance on Fox News in his final year in the league in 2021.
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According to Freedom, he asked Schröder that season what James was like as a teammate and how he viewed James public advocacy.
"He said, 'Whatever is LeBron doing is for LeBron.' I was like, enough said. We don't have to say a word anymore. Because, uh, I used to respect him a lot, you know, uh, for what he'd done for Black community. Uh, but when one of his former teammates said, you know, all his advocacy is for, is for LeBron, um, that's where, that's where he lost me."
Freedom also criticized James conduct during the national anthem before Philadelphias season opener against the Knicks on Tuesday. Video showed James making apparent golf and shooting motions during the performance, prompting criticism from President Donald Trump on Thursday.
"But I mean, everybody knows LeBron James... I call him the dictator of the NBA. And I think President Trump said the best. You know, he disrespects our country and disrespects our flag," Freedom said. "LeBron James is the reason the NBA is woke still. I promise you, once he retires, NBA is not going to be as woke as now."
In terms of the league's "woke" culture, Freedom also recalled an incident in his final year when he was praised for doing a television appearance on CNN, but shunned for going on Fox News to discuss the same topic of human rights abuses in China.
"I actually attended a show on CNN. The next day I walk in the locker room, they were saying, 'Good job last night, we watched your interview, keep doing what you're doing," he said. "The next morning I walk in the locker room, nobody said a word to me. They were not even looking at me. I was getting these dirty looks. I asked one of my teammates, I'm like, what happened?"
Freedom said a teammate explained that the objection was to the outlet carrying his message.
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"They said, well, we watched your interview again last night. I'm like, okay. It's not your interviews, it's who you did it with. I walk on the court, one of my assistant coaches came up to me and whisper— he was whispering in my ear, hey man, me and my family watched you last night, good job. I'm like, why are you whispering?"
According to Freedom, the coach feared a backlash of his own.
"He said, because I don't want your teammates to know that I watch Fox News. I was
