Enes Kanter is a Swiss-born Turkish former professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association (NBA).
At the age of 17, Kanter moved to the United States to play basketball. He attended Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nevada and then Mountain State Academy in Beckley, West Virginia. He was not allowed to play high school basketball at both schools because of a Nike shoe contract while he was a professional basketball player. Kanter then attended Stoneridge Preparatory School in Simi Valley, California, where he was able to play basketball for a season.
From 2010 to 2011, Kanter attended one year of college at the University of Kentucky, although he was declared permanently ineligible to play (or even practice) with the basketball team by the NCAA. The same year, he decided to join the NBA and was originally selected as the 3rd overall pick of the 2011 NBA draft by the Utah Jazz.
During his NBA career, he played for the Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks, Portland Trailblazers and Boston Celtics.
In addition to his professional basketball career, Enes has been and is a dedicated democracy and human rights advocate focusing on freedom of speech, due process, religious rights violations. He is an American citizen. In 2025, the former NBA player and activist shared that he plans to run for Congress once he's been a U.S. citizen for seven years. He is the author of "In the Name of Freedom: A Political Dissident's Fight for Human Rights in the NBA and Around the World."