PORTLAND — Enes Kanter slumped in his chair Monday night, sitting at his locker about an hour before the Knicks played the Trail Blazers. It had already been a long day. That morning he was asked to respond to Hedo Turkoglu, the former NBA player and now an adviser to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had accused him of running a “political smear campaign” against Turkey. Kanter called Turkoglu Erdogan’s “lap dog.” The two used to play on the Turkish national team together but have become political foes.



Kanter is usually upbeat and energetic, but here he was subdued and reticent to talk. He has been outspoken against Erdogan and his government for years, using the media as a bullhorn. Friday night, Kanter called him a “freaking lunatic,” while announcing he wouldn’t travel with the Knicks to London for a regular season game there, fearing for his safety. Turkoglu’s rebuttal followed.



The...