Enes Kanter Denies Report He's Opting into Knicks Contract

New York Knicks center Enes Kanter quickly denied a report Friday he's decided to exercise a $18.6 million player option in his contract for the 2018-19 NBA season.  

Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports reported Kanter decided to remain with the Knicks rather than become an unrestricted free agent. The post player responded within 10 minutes on Twitter:

In April, the 26-year-old Turkish center said he was leaning toward opting out of the current deal in order to seek a long-term pact with the Knicks, per Ian Begley of ESPN.

The speculation has shifted toward exercising the option ahead of Friday's deadline, though. Marc Berman of the New York Post reported Thursday there were "strong indications" Kanter would take the $18.6 million to stick with the Knicks.

"He'd be crazy not to," an NBA agent told Berman.

Kanter is coming off a strong statistical campaign for the Knicks. He averaged 14.1 points, 11.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists while shooting 59.2 percent from the field across 71 appearances.

Enes Kanter Highlights

The 2011 third overall pick of the Utah Jazz struggled at the defensive end, however. He ranked 73rd of 84 qualified centers in ESPN's Real Plus-Minus.

While New York would likely prefer to keep Kanter for stability in the post as Kristaps Porzingis recovers from a torn ACL, it's unclear whether it would make a long-term offer if he hit the open market.

For now, the Knicks will await the center's decision, which he told Berman won't be made official until Friday night.