Report: Jazz center Enes Kanter wants to be traded

Utah Jazz center Enes Kanter said he wants to be traded ahead of next Thursday's deadline. Kanter, 22, was the No. 3 pick in the 2011 draft and is averaging 13.8 points and 7.8 rebounds while shooting 49.1 percent in 27.1 minutes this season.

SI Wire | Feb 12, 2015

Report: Jazz center Enes Kanter wants to be traded /

Utah Jazz center Enes Kanter said he wants to be traded ahead of next Thursday's deadline, Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune reports.

Kanter, 22, was the No. 3 pick in the 2011 draft and is averaging 13.8 points and 7.8 rebounds while shooting 49.1 percent in 27.1 minutes this season.

Falk reports that Kanter's frustrations boiled over after he did not play in the fourth quarter of Wednesday's loss to the Mavericks. While he left the game with an eye injury, Kanter said he was healthy enough to return.

"It was not my eye at all. I don't know what it was, but it was not my eye at all. So we'll see what's going to happen," Kanter said after the game, declining to elaborate further.

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NBA's Biggest In-Season Trades

Carmelo Anthony

After months of speculation, the Knicks completed a deal for Anthony a few days before the February 2011 trade deadline. The trade gave New York a second All-Star to pair with Amar'e Stoudemire and provided the Nuggets with draft picks and young players in their attempt to build a new identity in the absence of their longtime franchise cornerstone.

Deron Williams

In a stunning move, the Nets acquired Williams from Utah for Devin Harris, Derrick Favors and two first-round picks on Feb. 23, 2011. The deal was agreed to the day after the Knicks finalized a trade for Carmelo Anthony, whom the Nets reportedly pursued for months.

Gilbert Arenas

Agent Zero's stormy tenure in Washington, D.C., ended on Dec. 18, 2010, when the Wizards shipped the mercurial guard to Orlando for Rashard Lewis. The trade was one of two big deals on the day for the Magic, who also acquired Hedo Turkoglu from the Suns for Vince Carter as part of a six-player swap.

Vince Carter

Carter's move from Orlando to Phoenix in December 2010 was not the first time he changed teams in-season. More than a half decade earlier, the high-flying Carter demanded a trade from Toronto, where he started his pro career in 1998. He eventually got his wish, as the Raptors dealt the then-five time All-Star to New Jersey on Dec. 17, 2004, for Alonzo Mourning, Aaron Williams, Eric Williams and two first-round draft picks.

Pau Gasol

Kobe Bryant finally got the help he was begging for. The Lakers instantly improved their frontcourt with the 2007-08 midseason addition of Gasol, who averaged 18.8 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 476 career games with the Grizzlies. The Lakers gave up Kwame Brown, rookie Javaris Crittenton and two first-round draft picks for the Spaniard, who would go on to help the Lakers win back-to-back titles in '09 and '10.

Wilt Chamberlain

After spending his first three pro seasons in his native Philadelphia, the Big Dipper and the rest of his Warriors team relocated to San Francisco in 1962. But Chamberlain, the game's most dominating offensive player, returned to Philly on Jan. 15, 1965, as a member of the 76ers (formerly the Syracuse Nationals). In exchange for Chamberlain, the financially strapped Warriors received three players and cash. It's the only time the league's leading scorer has been traded during the season.

Allen Iverson

Iverson, the first overall pick in 1996 and the former face of the Sixers' franchise, was traded twice late in his career. First, in December 2006, he went to the Nuggets for Andre Miller, Joe Smith and two first-round picks. Then, after two first-round playoff exits, and with Iverson in the last year of his deal, Denver sent AI to Detroit for Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess one week into the 2008-09 season.

Jason Kidd

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The Suns pulled off a stunner Feb. 6, 2008, when they acquired Shaq from the Heat for four-time All-Star forward Shawn Marion and backup guard Marcus Banks. The move came at a time when Phoenix owned the best record in the West, and appeared poised to make one more postseason run with its core of Marion, Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire. Instead, the run-and-gun Suns rolled the dice that an aging Shaq would pay off in the playoffs when half-court execution becomes even more important. Phoenix would end up losing in the first round.

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Baron Davis

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Tim Hardaway

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Bob McAdoo

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Ray Allen

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Gary Payton

After 12 full seasons in Seattle in which he emerged as the face of the SuperSonics, Payton was set to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2002-03 season. Instead of losing him and getting nothing in return, the Sonics dealt him to Milwaukee on Feb. 20, 2003, in the Ray Allen deal. Payton was involved in another midseason deal on Feb. 24, 2005, when the Celtics traded him to Atlanta, which waived him a week later (with the Celtics promptly re-signing him).

Dominique Wilkins

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Pushing for a title in 2001 with Allen Iverson at his MVP best, the 76ers obtained defensive ace Mutombo in a six-player deal with Atlanta, which received All-Star Theo Ratliff and Toni Kukoc. Ratliff was an extremely popular and productive player for the Sixers, but Mutombo was rejuvenated by the trade and was an even bigger lane presence than Ratliff. He averaged 13.9 points, 13.7 rebounds and 3.1 blocked shots in the playoffs, spurring Philadelphia into the NBA Finals. where the Sixers lost to Shaq's and Kobe's Lakers.

Jody Genessy of the Deseret Newsreports that Kanter did not travel with the team back to Utah, as it was the final game before the All-Star break.

Kanter has split time in Utah's frontcourt with Derrick Favors, Rudy Gobert and Trevor Booker. Gobert, in particular, has earned more playing time during his second season with the Jazz. He has averaged 8.8 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.9 blocks in 26.9 minutes since New Year's.

The Jazz are 19-34 and the No. 12 seed in the Western Conference. They are 9.5 games behind the Phoenix Suns for the final playoff spot.

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- Paul Palladino

Published Feb 12, 2015

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