The Turkish native is a critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and fears for his life should he make the trip to face the Washington Wizards on January 17.
“It’s pretty sad that just all this stuff affects my career in basketball, because I want to be out there helping my team win,” the 26-year-old player added. “But just because of that one lunatic guy, one maniac or dictator, I can’t even go out there and just do my job. So it’s pretty sad.”
“They got a lot of spies there,” Kanter said when asked if he really believed he could be killed traveling to London. “I can get killed pretty easy.”
CNN has reached out to Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.
Kanter said on social media he believed the move was a consequence of his political views and criticism of Erdogan, who he has called “the Hitler of our century.”
Source : Nbcnewyork