Freedom forced our hand. We've finally reached the point where a LeBron James-Enes Freedom beef timeline needs to be injected into our sports discourse.

LeBron James is one of the greatest basketball players to ever play in the NBA. Ever since he entered in the NBA, James has taken on the burden of living up to the GOAT status. With four NBA championships, Finals MVPs, and League MVPs under his belt, James is a shoo-in for the Basketball Hall of Fame in the near future.

Outside of basketball, James has also been influential by making an impact to society. Using his platform, James hasn’t been silent about the social injustices, including racism, happening in America. He also didn’t shy away from speaking about national issues and politics. Aside from speaking out, James’ biggest off-court contribution would be putting up the I Promise School, which helped addressed the lack of education in the district.

However, despite the greatness he has displayed throughout his career, not a lot are fans of The King. James is one of the most polarizing sports figures in recent memory. Being the greatest basketball player of all-time doesn’t only garner praises, but it also puts players like James under scrutiny and criticism. One of the players that has publicly expressed his dislike for James is Enes Kanter, who recently changed his legal name to Enes Kanter Freedom.

Raised in Turkey, Freedom is a 6’10 center who has played in the NBA for 11 seasons. He has had stints with the Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks, Portland TrailBlazers, and currently playing for the Boston Celtics.

Freedom hasn’t been shy about expressing his views, as he even publicly criticized government leaders such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and more recently, Chinese President Xi Jin Ping.

In fact, Freedom has made the most out of his platform, proclaiming the Turkish president as a “Hitler of our century”. His public accusations escalated to the point that President Erdogan has accused the big man of “terror ties”, which merited an arrest warrant by the Turkish government. Freedom has also had his Turkish passport revoked and his father imprisoned for partaking in a coup. Because of this, Freedom never joins his club for international games.

Like the Turkish government, China also took action in response to Freedom’s criticisms. Although the country didn’t issue an international prosecution, Tencent put a halt in streaming the Boston Celtics’ games. The streaming service in China started to censor the Celtics’ games, after Freedom called China’s president a “brutal dictator” while also telling the government to “Free Tibet”.

In his twitter account, Freedom has also criticized the likes of Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and Nike CEO Phil Knight for benefitting from the abusive practices of China. He also called out former Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin, who is currently showcasing his wares for the Beijing Ducks. Lin is a U.S citizen of Taiwanese descent.

But aside from speaking out against these popular figures, Freedom has also been speaking out against LeBron James. For this piece, let’s dive in to the full history between the beef of LeBron James and Enes Kanter Freedom.

LeBron James-Enes Freedom Beef Timeline

LeBron James and the Cavs Play Bottle Flip Game in Blow Out Game Against Knicks (December 7, 2016)

The first moment that got the attention of Freedom was when James and the Cavs Bench started playing the bottle flip game at the bench during a 126-94 blow out win over the New York Knicks. In order to kill time, both LeBron James and Kyrie Irving were seen attempting to do the trending bottle flip game.

While it didn’t draw ire from anyone from the Knicks roster, it did catch the attention of Enes Kanter Freedom. Although Freedom wasn’t with the Knicks yet at that time, given that he was still with the OKC Thunder, he found the acts disrespectful.

In an interview with ESPN, Freedom said, “With LeBron, it was weird because when I was with the Thunder I remember watching games, highlights when the Cavs were blowing out the Knicks at MSG. And then they started playing the “bottle flip” game. I was like, ‘This is disrespectful, man…this is messed up.’”

Despite not being with the Knicks yet, Freedom didn’t forget about this moment.

The LeBron James-Enes Freedom beef timeline continues!

Freedom’s games in a Knicks uniform against James and the Cavs (2017-2018)

Fast forward to one season later, moments before the Cavs-Knicks clash, James publicly criticized the Knicks in an interview with Bleacher Report that the Knicks should’ve drafted Dennis Smith Jr. over Frank Ntilikina with the eight overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. But as the Knicks’ new center, Freedom didn’t agree with James’ opinion on social media, despite James clarifying that it was a compliment to Dennis Smith Jr. rather than a swipe against the struggling Knicks rookie.

That disagreement suddenly spilled over to their game, where James, Ntilikina, and Freedom were involved in a heated scuffle that saw shoving and trash talking. After the commotion, all three players were slapped with technical fouls each.

Despite the situation being pacified, with the Cavs eventually taking the 104-101 comeback victory over the Knicks, James and Freedom would continue their spat after the game.

James would retaliate against Freedom’s words.

James would go on to post in his Instagram account about New York being his favorite place to play ball. This would generate a response from Freedom.

Later into the season, the Cavs visited the Knicks in April. James would wear shoes that stated “I’m King”, which was a reference to his dominance over Freedom and the Knicks earlier in the season. It was also a clapback to Freedom’s antics.

Freedom’s Continuous Trolling on James (2017-2019)

Freedom would continue to play mind games with James on Twitter, including this challenge of being the King of New York. For Freedom, it was his tactic to try to get James off his game.

Asked by ESPN on trolling James, Freedom responded saying, “I would do anything to take his focus away, distract him. People ask me, ‘Does it work?’ No it does not work. But I’m trying.”

After the Knicks scuffle, James suffered the first ejection of his career against the Miami Heat in Quicken Loans Arena. This of course, gave Freedom the opportunity to mess with James by sarcastically using his patented hashtag, #StriveforGreatness.

The Turkish center wouldn’t stop his antics there. In January 2018, after the Cavs suffered a blowout loss against the Thunder, 124-148, Freedom used James’ patented hashtag again in sarcastic fashion to provoke him.

Freedom would make another #StriveforGreatness post after the Lakers suffered a tight 124-123 defeat at the hands of the Knicks on March 18. 2019.

The LeBron James-Enes Freedom beef timeline continues!

LeBron’s refusal to be an advocate for the COVID-19 vaccine (2021)

It took a while before James took the COVID-19 jab, as he chose to dodge questions regarding his vaccination status back in May 2021. Although he eventually agreed to get vaccinated, it didn’t mean James would become an advocate of the vaccine.

James disclosed, “It’s not my job. We’re talking about individuals’ bodies. We’re not talking about something that’s political or racism or police brutality, things of that nature. We’re talking about people’s bodies and well-being. So I don’t feel like, for me personally, that I should get involved in what other people do for their bodies and their livelihoods.”

This didn’t sit well for Freedom, as seen in his tweet below.

For Freedom, James would’ve been the perfect role model to encourage players around the NBA to get vaccinated. Given James’ platform and influence, he would’ve been the perfect candidate to eliminate any form of vaccine hesitancy. As a result, James’ statement only brought disappointment to the Celtics center for not promoting the COVID vaccine.

LeBron’s comments against Daryl Morey’s stand on China (2019 – Present)

As earlier said in the article, James has been vocal about his political stance and the injustices happening in America. However, some were certainly puzzled after James’ past statements on freedom and justice didn’t align with his stance on China’s issues, amidst the heat of the NBA-China controversy.

The NBA-China controversy stemmed from Sixers President of Basketball Operations, Daryl Morey, who was back then the GM of the Houston Rockets. Morey tweeted in solidarity with Hong Kong’s protest movements which drew the ire of China.

According to CNBC, the NBA’s business operations in China are estimated to be at least $5 billion. Furthermore with James endorsing Nike, a brand that was allegedly involved with the country’s Uighur forced labor, The King controversially chose to keep mum over these human rights issues.

As a result, some NBA figures such as Freedom called out James. This is perhaps the biggest root to James’ and Freedom’s current feud.With Freedom being very vocal against social injustices and lack of freedom, the Celtics center didn’t hold back in attacking James on social media.

James chose not to engage with Freedom online. Instead, he preferred that the Celtics center approach him face-to-face. Despite Freedom making strong claims on social media, the Celtics center didn’t use the two opportunities the Celtics and the Lakers met earlier this year, to converse with James before the games.

Although Freedom claims that it was James who walked by him, his failure to initiate the conversation contradicts his earlier statement “to educate” James over the ongoing issues in China.

Freedom told ESPN, “Sure, I’d love to sit down and talk to him. I’m sure it’s going to be a very uncomfortable conversation for him. I don’t know if he’s educated enough, but I’m here to educate him, and I’m here to help him, because it’s not about money. It’s about morals, principles, and values. It’s about what you stand for. There are way bigger things than money. If LeBron stopped making money now, his grandkids and grandkids and grandkids can have the best life ever.”

For failing to confront James about the issue, Freedom was blasted by fans for being a “Clout Chaser”.

His failure to meet James was also taken notice by James’ former teammate, Kendrick Perkins. The former NBA champion threw shade against the newly naturalized American citizen. Perkins was James' teammate in 2015.

While Freedom ultimately disagrees with James, the Celtics center didn’t hold back in criticizing the four-time NBA Champion. He claims that James only cared about his reputation more than anything else which Freedom believes some of James’ former teammates would agree to.

Although Freedom’s failure to initiate an actual conversation with James raises question marks, he did garner support from reputable individuals. One of which was Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who lauded the Celtics center and criticized James at the same time.

In a podcast, Cruz went on to say, “You have people like LeBron James defending the communist dictators who engage in murder and torture and run concentration camps. I gotta say, Enes Kanter calling out LeBron James, I thought his shoes were hysterical with LeBron bowing before the Chinese communist overlords.”

Aside from the Texas Senator, some NBA figures also agreed with Freedom. One of which being the one time NBA champion and 2005 first overall pick, Andrew Bogut. The former Australian big man also showed support for Freedom’s gutsy stance against China. On a different tweet, which is now deleted, Bogut took a shot against LeBron James for not speaking out against China's issues.

https://twitter.com/andrewbogut/status/1453125828309516291

Another NBA figure that supported the Celtics center is Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich. Popovich lauded the Celtics big man for speaking out against injustices happening around the world.

Furthermore, the Spurs Head Coach spoke out on the importance of the actions of Freedom.

Coach Pop said, “We live in a world now where people are just willing to make stuff up and lie, promote conspiracy theories, all these sorts of things – and a lot of people are buying it, so pointing things out, calling it out, when you need to is important.”

The feud between James and Freedom has drawn mixed reactions. Although it adds more drama to the games where they clash, there’s no question that both of these players have some serious issues to settle. While some of these issues may be petty, there’s no question that some of their differences involve things beyond the basketball court. And from the looks of it, it seems like there will be more upcoming tension brewing between the two in the near future.

The LeBron James-Enes Freedom beef timeline is… probably a story that is not yet over. Sad face emoji!