Enes Kanter spent 11 seasons in the NBA, but in recent years he’s become more well known for being a political lightning rod. The Turkish national even changed his name to Enes Kanter Freedom to celebrate becoming an American citizen and breaking free from Türkiye’s authoritarian rule. Naturally, he had a lot to say about Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal’s association with Turkish president Recep Erodgan and his attempt at sportswashing the country’s reputation for human rights violations.
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The term ‘sportswashing’ has been around for about a decade, and it’s gained traction in recent years in light of empires like Saudi Arabia going all-in on sports, from the LIV Golf Tour to hosting championship boxing matches. Turkey has also been jumping on the bandwagon over the last few months and recently roped in Shaq for their cause.
Freedom took to Twitter two days ago to deliver a pointed post aimed at Hall-of-Famer after the Big Diesel was photographed with Erdogan.
“How much is your integrity worth?” he asked the former Lakers star.
Hey @SHAQ,
Let me teach you a lesson.At what point do you choose morals over money?
Whether you were paid for these photo ops or not is irrelevant. You willingly posed next to a man the entire world knows is a dictator.
And let’s be clear about who you chose to stand with.… https://t.co/2WEpVJGZsE
— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) January 20, 2026
Shaq’s meeting with Erdogan took place at Türkiye’s Basketball Development Center, which was completed in 2024. The facility has been championed by Erdogan as a way for Türkiye to develop top basketball talent, and to that end, there were many young players in attendance as Shaq and Erdogan faced off in a free throw contest.
Shaq’s name and likeness are on dozens of products, but at the same time, he’s also well known for his philanthropy and generosity. His work with the Boys & Girls Club and many other charitable causes proves that.
This is an extremely touchy subject. On the one hand, it’s clearly a textbook example of sportswashing by a world leader in need of some good PR, but for a guy with such a sterling reputation as Shaq, he’s at worst just an unwitting participant in a political agenda.
More likely, he saw an opportunity to meet and greet some kids on the world stage, take a few photos and shake a few hands, and didn’t put much thought into it beyond that.
That kind of makes him the perfect target for a sportswashing campaign, come to think of it. It’s fair play for Freedom to call it out, now we’ll have to see if Shaq addresses it himself.
