As expected, the verbal saga between Enes Kanter and LeBron James only heightened after the Celtics faced the Lakers. While LA and Boston have had a rivalry long before these two, Kanter’s one-sided war of words on LeBron James has garnered a lot of attention.
Last month, Kanter called out Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Nike, for their association with China and the unsafe practices they were partaking in and endorsing, including ‘slave labor camps’ in order to produce their shoe at a low cost.
Yesterday, Kanter once again called out James specifically and mocked him for being active and vocal on matters of social justice only when they don’t have any financial ramifications for him, doubling down on James’ association with Chine along with Nike.
After the Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James was asked during his press interaction about Kanter’s comments and his shoes, which had been designed to insult James. James seemingly shut the topic down, saying he wouldn’t waste his energy at Kanter.
Following that, James noted that he thought Kanter would address him face to face given the way he feels about the whole situation. But Kanter did the opposite, as James revealed that Kanter walked by him in the hallway and didn’t say anything at all, and didn’t try to address the situation (3:21 mark).
On top of that, a video from the warm-up routine shows Kanter walking away as soon LeBron James is nearby, avoiding any degree of interaction with James as he begins his routine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JruUaGatxA
“He’s always kind of had a word or two to say in my direction, and as men, really, if you had an issue with somebody you’d really come up to them. And he had his opportunity tonight. I saw him in the hallway and he walked right by me.”
😭😭😭😭😭Enes Kanter was too scared to even look at Lebron pic.twitter.com/q3uL33ULrU
— Ballsack Sports (@BallsackSports) November 20, 2021
Kanter is yet to respond to these comments by James. But it is more than likely that he will be responding to ‘The King’. The two have a heated history, but Kanter’s issue is with LeBron’s use of his platform rather than any animosity they two may have shared on the court.
It will be interesting to see how Kanter responds. Given LeBron’s nature, he is unlikely to respond to him again. Whereas Kanter will probably continue to call him out, in the hope that LeBron will use his massive platform to fight for the cause.
