This week, Doc & The Block interview former NBA standout Enes Freedom. Born in Zurich, raised in Turkey, and made in America, Freedom is seven feet tall, fearless, and impossible to silence.
Drafted third overall in 2011, Freedom fought for rebounds on the court and for freedom off of it. He played with the Knicks, the Celtics, the Blazers — then he played the one game that really mattered: truth versus tyranny.
Over time, his activism grew louder, broader, bolder. He denounced China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims, the suppression in Tibet, the forced labor behind Western brands. He wore protest shoes on NBA courts—hand-painted with the words “Free Tibet” and “Made with Slave Labor.”
And when he became a U.S. citizen in 2021, he changed his name to Enes Kanter Freedom—a declaration, not a flourish.
He’s since been honored around the world:
• Magnitsky Human Rights Award winner
• FIBA Europe U18 MVP (back when the fight was only on the court)
• Human rights advocate and global speaker for liberty and conscience
Freedom’s new book,
About the Book:
A riveting story of personal hardship, the cost of political dissent, and the quest for justice that recounts how NBA star Enes Kanter Freedom became a leading activist for human rights around the world.
Enes Kanter Freedom was born to play basketball. But he risked it all when he realized that his voice could be a force for change.
In the Name of Freedom tells the story of how Enes Kanter, a boy with a dream in Turkey, became Enes Freedom, an American citizen, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and a fierce advocate for human rights—and the price he paid for speaking out.
Enes refused to stand by as his native country descended into authoritarian dictatorship. He made his opinion known and the Erdogan regime declared him an enemy of state. His father, still in Turkey, was arrested and declared a terrorist. Enes’s Turkish passport was revoked and he was made stateless.
The experience would have broken most advocates. But it only encouraged Enes, who realized that standing for human rights was bigger than basketball. Enes soon became one of the country’s fiercest fighters for human rights. He took on the NBA for turning a blind eye to China’s persecution of the Uyghurs. He even called out Lebron James, the game’s biggest star, for using Chinese labor in his Nike shoe deal as the Chinese government cracked down on political freedoms in Hong Kong.
Timely and gripping, In the Name of Freedom puts a human face on the fight for liberty and democracy.
