Enes Kanter Continues His Portland to Boston Shuttle, Now Back With Celtics

Enes Kanter is taking the "give and go" to a new extreme. The past four years have seen him passed from Portland to Boston, back to Portland, and now, back again to Boston. Kanter has signed a one-year deal to return to the Celtics. 

WELCOME BACK TO BOSTON, ENES KANTER! pic.twitter.com/2EqEvuxdvm

— Celtics Junkies (@Celtics_Junkies) August 4, 2021

The veteran big man was initially traded from the New York Knicks to the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2018-19 season, where he played 23 games. He then spent the 2019-20 season in Boston, where he averaged 8.1 PPG and 7.4 rebounds in 17 minutes per game. 

But a day after exercising his $5 million dollar contract option in the 2020 offseason, Kanter was dealt by the Celtics back to the Blazers, where he spent this past season, putting up 11 points and 11 rebounds per game, in a more prominent role. 

Now, as a free agent, he's decided to return to Boston once again. 

Shuttling between Portland and Boston is all well and good for Kanter, as long as his travels don't take him anywhere his homeland of Turkey, where he now faces nine outstanding arrest warrants for his fierce criticisms of the Turkish regime's human rights violations. 

Photo Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports