Portland Trail Blazers big man Enes Kanter showed off his volleyball skills on Monday night against the Brooklyn Nets in what is easily one of the most unorthodox plays we've seen all week.
Kanter used a volleyball-like spike to prevent a Hail Mary Nets play, and despite how odd it looked, it actually almost paid off on the other end for the Blazers:
Kanter playing volleyball out there? đ pic.twitter.com/kaFXPcAHGu
â NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) March 26, 2019
Kanter probably saw Blazers point guard Damian Lillard with a bit of space near half court, so he decided to kickstart a counterattacking play himself. He actually almost hit Lillard with the home run pass â if you can call it that â and it would have absolutely been a momentum-swinging last-second play for the Blazers had it translated into a fast-break deuce.
Kanter was effective in his 21 minutes of action for Portland, as he helped his team to a thrilling 148-144 double-overtime victory against the Nets. The 26-year-old dropped a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double off the bench.
However, the story of the evening was the horrific leg injury suffered by Blazers big man Jusuf Nurkic. The season-ending injury comes at a terrible time for Portland, with the team losing its starting big man just weeks prior to the playoffs.
For his part, Kanter will almost certainly have a bigger role for the team moving forward in the wake of Nurkic's injury. Kanter will have a legitimate shot at being handed the starting role for the Blazers, although his defensive shortcomings will definitely have an impact on his minutes the rest of the way.
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