Enes Kanter, #11, Boston Celtics, (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Enes Kanter is spending his quarantine planning for a career after basketball. Apparently that career is going to be as a professional wrestler with WWE.
The world around us is changing rapidly and it’s forcing everyone to think deeply about their present and their future. For many, that means considering the changing nature of their work and perhaps even imagining alternative careers. For Enes Kanter, that means laying the groundwork for a career wrestling with the WWE.
That’s Kanter speaking with Stadium’s Shams Charania and if you don’t have time to watch the whole interview, here’s the money quote: “I’m definitely becoming a WWE wrestler, for sure. I already have offers from WWE, but I got to finish my basketball career first.”
Kanter has actually been a WWE title-holder before, with his reign as 24/7 Champion lasting all of 22 seconds. At a RAW event in September of 2019, Kanter surprised R-Truth with a slam and ping, hosting the belt and showing off a Celtics’ jersey hidden under his zip-up hoody. Truth pulled the ol’ switcheroo and immediately took it back.
Whenever he makes the transition from professional post-scorer to professional mat-jockey (is that a thing?) Kanter will be joining a rich legacy of NBA and NBA-adjacent personalities crossing over into the ring. Karl Malone, Dennis Rodman, Shaquille O’Neal, LaVar Ball and Mark Cuban have all made appearances or actually wrestled at professional wrestling events in the past.
However, we still haven’t seen a booking of the WWE match we all really want to see — LeBron James vs. Draymond Green. I suppose you could swap Kevin Durant in for LeBron at this point. But mostly we just want to see Green in the ring, settling some of the grudges he’s built up on the court. Or, maybe Vince McMahon could take our advice and just launch the XNBA.