Ener Kanter will not join the team on their upcoming trip to London because of the ongoing tension between the Knicks center and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Kanter told reporters after New York's 119–112 win over the Lakers on Friday.
"I talked to the front office [and] sadly I'm not going because of that freaking lunatic, the Turkish president," Kanter told reporters on Friday. "There's a chance that I can get killed out there."
He continued: "I'm not going so I'm just going to stay here to just practice here. It's pretty sad that all this stuff affects my career and basketball because I want to be out there and help my team win.