Only in the NBA, where franchises are built on the shoulders of 19-year-old kids loaded with potential and promise, could Enes Kanter be considered a grizzled veteran. But at 26 years old, he is an elder statesman in the Knicks locker room.
That means playing mentor to 20-year-old Mitchell Robinson, who skipped to the NBA directly from high school, serving as on-court protector for 20-year-old Frank Ntilikina when the slender French point guard finds himself going nose-to-nose with LeBron James, and providing guidance to 19-year-old Knicks’ lottery pick Kevin Knox.
And between the stewardship of the locker room, Kanter also has been providing a semblance of ready-made performances on a team building for some distant future.