National Basketball Association

Enes Kanter: Trade leverage or valuable asset?

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Enes Kanter is a man with his head firmly on the trading block, having been linked with moves away from the Oklahoma City Thunder all summer. But is the center too good a player to be traded away?

Normally September is the quieter month of the offseason when it comes to trade rumors, but for the Oklahoma City Thunder, it seems the complete opposite.

In the last week or so the Western Conference finalists have been linked with moves for the likes of Paul George, Jimmy Butler and Blake Griffin among others, but whilst the player traded in changes, there’s one recurring name in each deal – Enes Kanter.

Apr 23, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (left) and center Enes Kanter (right) react during the fourth quarter against the Dallas Mavericks in game four of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at American Airlines Center. Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

The 24-year-old was the Thunder’s reserve center last season, more often than not deployed off the bench by coach Billy Donovan.

Despite only averaging 21 minutes of play, the Swiss-born Turk put up an impressive 12.7 points and 8.1 rebounds across the course of the regular season, with his numbers dropping to 9.4 and 6.4 respectively during the playoffs.

It therefore makes sense that the former Utah Jazz man would be the player that the Thunder would use to sweeten any trade deals, as the side wouldn’t want to lose players from their starting-five.

Trading Kanter seems a lot more logical than losing Victor Oladipo or Steven Adams, who have both found themselves linked with moves, as OKC desperately hunt for a scoring solution following Kevin Durant’s departure.

Despite being linked with All-Star forward’s, Kanter seems to be enough leverage that only one other player needs to be dealt alongside him. But is that not a sign of his worth and potential?

On the other hand…

Kanter was ranked as one of the most efficient players in the league last season, and in turn was one of the favorites for the Sixth Man of the Year award.

The center was the only Thunder player to besides Russell Westbrook and Durant to lead the side in scoring on more than one occasion, doing it three times thanks to returns of 26, 33 and 17.

Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sportsof Ersan Ilyasova and Domantas Sabonis from the Orlando Magic.

The 24-year-old has proved himself to be an reliable starter too, as he averaged 18.7 points from 31.1 minutes of play during the remainder of 2014/15 season, following his trade from the Jazz.

The recent arrival of Joffrey Lauvergne from the Denver Nuggets leaves the Thunder stacked on the back of the court, following the arrivals of Ersan Ilyasova and Domantas Sabonis from the Orlando Magic.

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But that shouldn’t make the Kanter the victim, with his post play and shot conversion on the offense more than enough to make him a viable starting power forward.

The six-foot-eleven big man met criticism for the defensive side of his game last season, something which is seen as the main contributor to losing the five spot to Steven Adams.

But with the Thunder unlikely to be able to replace the 28.2 point average of KD from the season before in any trade deal they attempt, it seems foolish to throw away the double-digit average of their reserve center.

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