Kendrick Perkins thinks Enes Kanter Freedom, a frequent critic of LeBron James, should have had more to say in-person after weeks of slamming James in the media.
On Tuesday night, there was a brief moment where it appeared as though Freedom and James were exchanging words, but the situation did not escalate from there.
Perkins, a current ESPN NBA analyst who was a brief teammate of James with the Cavaliers during the 2017-18 season, called Freedom out for the moment.
“Where I’m from we call it ‘Throwing Stones and Hiding your Hand,'” Perkins tweeted. “Enes energy changes when they’re in person. Don’t mind me tho and Carry on…”
There was extra energy paid by the Lakers to Freedom on Tuesday night, as Russell Westbrook forced a Celtics turnover and proceeded to immediately clap in Freedom’s face.
Enes Kanter Freedom, 29, officially added his new last name recently to commemorate becoming an American citizen. He has repeatedly repudiated authoritarian regimes, from his native Turkey to China.
In November, Freedom, a center on the Celtics, wore a pair of sneakers in a game against the Lakers depicting LeBron James, who has his own Nike line, bowing down to China’s leader, Xi Jinping.
“Money over Morals for the ‘King,'” Freedom wrote in his Instagram caption. “Sad & disgusting how these athletes pretend they care about social justice. They really do ‘shut up & dribble’ when Big Boss [China] says so. Did you educate yourself about the slave labor that made your shoes or is that not part of your research?”
Freedom has repeatedly used his sneakers to call attention to human rights atrocities in China. Earlier this week, he told The Post that NBA officials “begged” him not to wear sneakers that said “Free Tibet” on them.
“Before the game at Madison Square Garden, two gentlemen from the NBA begged me to take the shoes off,” Freedom said. “I was confused. I was getting ready for my citizenship test and I knew that the First Amendment is freedom of speech. Them telling me to take my shoes off went against my First Amendment rights. I said I would not take them off. I didn’t care if I got banned or fined. During halftime, I received a text message from my manager: All the Celtics games were suddenly banned in China. It took one half of a Celtics game, with me wearing these shoes, on the bench, for the games to get banned.”
The NBA responded that “at no point has any NBA league official approached Enes and asked him not to wear his choice of shoes.”