Kant' stop
Enes vows to play final games if healthy enough
Enes Kanter isn’t sure he can make it back from his wrist and back woes this season, but he plans to try. The Knicks’ injured center said it would be selfish to think about shutting himself down or concentrate on this summer’s contract decisions while there are still four games remaining — including a pair against the Cavaliers he’s salivating over.
“I love basketball. That’s why I’m out there playing,” said Kanter, who didn’t practice Thursday. “It doesn’t matter if we have one or two games left, 10 games left or whatever, you still want to go out there and fight and battle with your teammates. It doesn’t matter four games, two games, one game, whatever.”
Kanter has missed the Knicks’ past two games with a sore lower back and right wrist injury suffered last week versus the 76ers.
The Knicks host the Heat and Bucks on Friday and Saturday, respectively, with Kanter acknowledging he’s been looking forward to their last two against Cleveland for some time.
“I’ve been thinking about those two games [the] whole season,” said Kanter, who got into it with LeBron James in their Nov. 13 meeting and has trolled him on Twitter. “But we’ll see how it feels. If it feels healthy I’m going to come back even before that. But if it feels hurt … it wouldn’t be smart.”
Kanter is switching to agent Mark Bartelstein and mulling not picking up next season’s $18.6 million player option, but claims he won’t make a business decision to sit the final four games.
“You’re always thinking the business part, but for me basketball comes first,” Kanter said. “We’ve got four games left and the Knicks are still paying me. The Knicks are paying for me to go out there and — if I’m healthy — to go out there to play. So if I feel really good, I’ll go out there and play.
“It’d be really selfish to think about opting in or opting out or thinking about my contract and not playing, giving up on my teammates and my team. It’d be really selfish. For me the Knicks are still paying me, I’m still part of this team. If I’m still healthy I’m just going to go out there and fight.”
Kanter is averaging 14.1 points and 11 rebounds on 59.2 percent shooting.
“It doesn’t matter if he’s hurt. When he gets out there and plays, he plays hard,” beleaguered coach Jeff Hornacek said. “He tries as hard as he can. That offensive rebounding he gave us this year was great. … Defensively he was picking up on things we were trying to do throughout the year and got better. I thought he played extremely well.”
Kanter had similar praise for the city, the fans and especially team president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry’s daily presence at practice.
“That shows how much they care about their players and this organization. That shows a lot to me,” Kanter said. “The most important thing for me is seeing those two guys sitting on the sideline. It’s going to definitely affect my decision this summer. I love those guys”