Knicks’ Kanter forges bond with Red Bulls
HARRISON, N.J. — When NBA center Enes Kanter was traded to the New York Knicks last September, the Swiss-born Turkish extrovert was eager to experience all the best parts of his newly adopted home: Times Square, Central Park, Red Bull Arena — wait a minute. Like many good stories, this one starts in Hollywood.
Three weeks after the Knicks finished their 2017-18 season, Kanter — who moved from Turkey to California in 2009 — was spending time in Los Angeles. One of his friends offered him tickets to a late-April bout between the New York Red Bulls and the LA Galaxy.
Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the main attraction for the 6-foot-11 center, but the other factor was a chance to support his hometown team. At 25 years old, this cross-country MLS encounter would be the first soccer match he attended in his life.
Kanter grew up in Turkey — where his family still lives and is facing persecution by the Turkish government — at first aspiring to be a soccer player. His house was a Steph Curry 3-pointer from the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in Istanbul, where volatile crowds of Fenerbahce supporters often damaged property and threatened lives during heated rivalry matches or poor runs of form.
“[The Turkish fans] were so … fanatic, you know what I mean?” Kanter said during a phone interview. “I mean, I was hearing with the ultras, people were getting killed, people are getting stabbed, people are drinking and just going crazy.
“And that’s why it was, like, so scary, for me as a kid. And that’s why my family never sent me to any of the games or I’ve never been to any of the games.
Kanter came to the United States for his senior year of high school, an attempt to further his chances at an elite college scholarship for basketball. While chasing his dream on the court in a new setting, Kanter lost sight of the sport that once captured his imagination. More so, the future NBA star was not even aware that men played soccer professionally in his new country.
“I didn’t watch men’s soccer at all when I came because I thought they just really don’t play soccer in America because I never heard it,” Kanter said. “I thought only girls played soccer in America. No, seriously.”
Eventually, he became aware of U.S. men’s soccer, but the sport did not fully resurface in his life until this spring when on a late-April night he witnessed a back-andforth goal-fest between the Red Bulls and Galaxy.
Rarely disconnected from social media, Kanter was sitting in StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., when he noticed the New York Red Bulls’ Twitter account followed his. Surprised and elated, he quickly typed up a direct message, asking if he could greet the team following the match.
Across the country, Red Bulls communication assistant Willy Whitelaw was the first to receive word of Kanter’s interest. He quickly reached out to the team’s senior manager of digital and social media, Andrew Vazzano, who was on-site and managed to ask former coach Jesse Marsch whether the first-time spectator could visit the locker room.
“I ended up running through the back of the stadium after wrapping up interviews, getting Enes back to our locker room to meet the players and technical staff,” Vazzano said. “It was crazy, but fun!”
The energy and camaraderie of the group struck Kanter. He wanted to be a professional soccer player before he committed to basketball, but his height and lack of straightaway speed put him in goal, a position he did not enjoy. Now, though, he was in the away locker room after a 3-2 win.
“I saw the locker room, I saw how close friends they are, I saw the teammates, I saw the vibe in the locker room and I’m like, ‘Man, this is fun,’ ” Kanter said. “And New York has other teams, too. But I’m like, ‘You know what? The Red Bulls are fine. Cool man, from now on, I’m a Red Bulls fan.’”