New York Knicks center Enes Kanter endeared himself even more to the fan base by facing LeBron James last season, taking part in a short-lived beef with the self-professed King of New York.

The Turkish international explained to ESPN's Royce Young what got this beef started, one that got started even before the day he put a Knicks jersey on.

“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,” Kanter said.

Yet his distaste for James only increased after his slights with the media, which eventually translated onto the court.

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“And then it was the first game I was with the Knicks and then he came and before the game he said we should've drafted Dennis Smith Jr. And not just me, but most of our guys felt like it was disrespectful to Frank [Ntilikina] and we actually sat down with Frank and talked to him and said, ‘Hey you gotta step up for yourself, man,'” said Kanter. “Then I was in the game and they were pushing each other and I'm like, ‘This is a 19-year-old kid against a 260-pound dude. This is not fair.' So I get in there and we were face-to-face and we trash-talked a little bit. After the game I called him “queen” or “princess” or whatever.”

Kanter was the first one to step forward as soon as James tried to punk Frank Ntilikina, drawing the ovation of a sold-out Madison Square Garden — an arena that historically loves a good fight when it sees one.

The big man might have started a petty back-and-forth with James, but in his mind, it was James who threw the first stone — as messing with his teammates is just as personal as taking a shot at him at any point.