Enes Kanter Biography, Career Stats, Height, Weight And Other Facts

Enes Kanter Biography, Career Stats, Height, Weight And Other Facts

Enes Kanter is a professional Turkish basketball center player who plays for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association. He was drafted by Utah Jazz during the 2011 NBA draft and was the third player to be selected in total. He completed his youth career in the Turkish Super League and EuroLeague before moving to the United States. Read on as we guide you through Enes Kanter’s biography, career statistics, and other interesting facts.

Enes Kanter Biography

Enes Kanter was first born on May 20, 1992, in Zurich, Switzerland. His parents Mehmet Kanter and his wife Gulsum Kanter are of Turkish origin. His father works as a professor of histology at the University of Trakya in Turkey, while his mother received her doctorate in medicine from the University of Zurich. He spent his first years in Switzerland before moving to the United States for further education.

Kanter began his basketball career with the youth team of Fenerbache at the age of fourteen. He played for the team for two years from 2006 to 2008. In 2009, he moved to the senior national team of Fenerbache; however, he did not get much time to play. In the regular season 2008/09, he played only nine games for the team. At the end of the season, Olympiacos of the Greek League and Feneberche offered the youngster a professional contract, but he turned them both down after he decided to play high school and college basketball in the United States.

Enes Kanter Biography, Career Stats, Height, Weight And Other Facts
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Kanter moved to the United States in 2009 and then enrolled in a preparatory school in Simi Valley, California. In 2009 he played high school basketball for Stoneridge Prep School. The following year, he participated in the 2010 Nike Hoop Summit and played for the international team, scoring 13 rebounds and 34 points in the competition to break Dirk Nowitzki’s 1998 record. Although he signed up for his college career at the University of Washington Huskies, Kanter subsequently signed with the Kentucky Wildcats.

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During his college career, he was declared ineligible by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) after receiving up to $33,000 in benefits from his former club Fenerbache. The NCAA found that the amount was outrageously high and went beyond what was acceptable. He continued to appeal to the association, but his appeal was rightly rejected. The saga prevented Enes Kanter from playing college-level basketball. He also announced that he would join the 2011 NBA draft while waiving his college eligibility.

Professional Career Stats

During the 2011 NBA Draft, Enes was selected by Utah Jazz as the third overall player for the draft. On December 9, 2011, he signed his rookie contract with Jazz and on December 27, 2011, he played against the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time professionally for Jazz. In the 2011/12 season, he played a total of 66 games for Jazz, which corresponds to an average of 4.2 rebounds and 4.6 points per game. The next season, Kanter saw a big improvement in his game, and by the end of the season, he had an average of 4.3 rebounds and 7.2 points per game. The highlight of his career in the 2013/14 season was his match against Milwaukee Bucks in March 2014, when Kanter scored 27 points in the game and at the end of the season, averaging 7.5 rebounds and 12.3 points.

Enes Kanter Biography, Career Stats, Height, Weight And Other Facts
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During the regular season 2014/15, Enes Kanter was transferred to Oklahoma City Thunder. His first appearance for the Thunder was in their 110-103 win over the Charlotte Hornets. Kanter scored 10 points and made 13 rebounds in the game. The star had an average of 11.0 rebounds and 18.7 points during the season. At the end of the season, Kanter became a free player and signed a four-year contract with Thunder in July 2015 worth 70 million dollars. In the 2015/16 season, he recorded 8.1 rebounds and 12.7 points per game. The following year he had 6.7 rebounds and 14.3 points per game.

In September 2017 Enes was traded to the New York Knicks alongside Doug McDermott in exchange for Carmelo Anthony of the Knicks. He made his Knicks debut in October 2017 when he scored seven rebounds and 10 points in their game against Oklahoma City Thunder. At the end of the season, he had 11.0 rebounds and 14.1 points per game.

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His Height, Weight, and Other Facts

Enes Kanter has an incredible height of 2.11 m (6 feet 11 inches).

He weighs 111 kg, which corresponds to a weight of 245 pounds.

Kanter is the second Knicks player after David Lee to have played seven doubles pairs in a row in one season.

He went to the University of Kentucky but did not play college basketball with them due to NCAA rules.

He has two brothers named Ahmad and Kerem Kanter and a sister named Betul Kanter.

His younger brother Kerem Kanter is also a professional basketball player with JL Bourg in the LNB Pro League.

Turkish star Enes Kanter considers himself stateless after the Turkish government revoked his citizenship because of his alleged support of a terrorist group called the Hizmet Movement of Fethullah.