If you go off of per 36 stats, which are the best stats in the world because they allow you to compare bench players to starters, Enes Kanter is a top 20 scorer in the NBA, scoring 24 points per 36 minutes. Teammate Josh Huestis is even better, scoring 36 points per 36 minutes, but he doesn’t count because he’s only played a total of seven minutes spread across all of one game, so if you take him off the list, Kanter’s position rises.
Also of note is that Kanter is the second-highest bench player on the list behind Lou Williams. Clearly he is a scoring machine being held down by his bench role. His often-mocked defense is somewhat improved and he’s not a negative on the court anymore, so it’s time to ship him off to a team that will play him 35 minutes per game and give him as many touches as he wants. I know the trade deadline already went by but there’s gotta be some way around that.
If Kanter got traded we would then find out if his success is due to Russell Westbrook or if he’s creating his own success. I lean towards the latter because Kanter scores most of his points these days off of post-ups where it doesn’t matter who passes him the ball. It actually seemed like in this game that Alex Abrines was the player who Kanter’s success could be attributed to, if not Kanter himself.
So if Kanter gets traded, Abrines has to be part of the package. That’s what I’m saying here.