Thunder forward Enes Kanter was supposed to have recovered from offseason knee surgery and rejoin the Turkish national team before participating in training camp later this summer. And while his recovery is in full swing, representing his homeland isn’t going to happen.
The 20-man Turkish team for this summer’s European Basketball Championship (known as Eurobasket) tournament was announced earlier this week and Kanter was noticeably left off. The reason? According to a statement provided by The Oklahoman, the OKC forward/center was excluded because of his “values and political views.”
A report indicated that men’s basketball coach Ergin Ataman attempted to contact Kanter but couldn’t.