Ex-NBA star with $500k bounty on his head wants to sue the league and is just ‘waiting for the right time’

TURKEY has reportedly placed a $500,000 bounty on Enes Freedom’s head as the ex-NBA player’s conflict with his former country continues.

The outspoken center, 30, also wants to sue the NBA for “blackballing” him as he’s been out of the league since February 2022.

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Freedom is known for speaking out against human rights abuse and heavy criticism of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime in Turkey as well as Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party.

The Swiss-born big man’s political views put him on a collision course with the Turkish government and caused him to have his passport revoked in 2017 — four years before he became an American citizen.

But he now appears to be officially a wanted man with his name making Turkey’s most-wanted terrorist list this year.

Freedom seems to be listed for his connection to the Gulen movement, led by U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, which is considered a terrorist organization but the Turkish government.

The country’s Interior Ministry is said to be offering 10 million Turkish Lira, or about $500,000, for information that could lead to the capture of the center.

“That makes it so dangerous,” Freedom told The New York Post.

“Before the bounty, Turkish intelligence were after the people on the list, but now everyone is after them because they want the money.”

The former Boston Celtics and New York Knicks center said he keeps in touch with the FBI and law enforcement organizations to ensure personal security.

“I’m being protected 24/7,” he said.

“I’m speaking out because I am not the only one on that list.

“There are so many journalists, so many activists, and so many athletes, but they aren’t as well-known as me.

“They are way easier targets — and they’re alone out there.”

Still, Freedom is planning to take on the NBA as he claims his views on China are the reason he hasn’t played in the league since the Houston Rockets waived him in February last year.

“The NBA is never going to admit it, but I believe I’m being blackballed,” he said.

“I’ve had many conversations and everyone is saying the same thing: ‘Your career has ended because of your China comments.’”

The Post reports Freedom is “waiting for the right time” to sue the league.

“They are a 100% American-made organization, but they are being controlled and run by the biggest dictatorship in the world, China,” he said.

“How can China fire an American citizen from an American organization? That is unacceptable.”

The Post adds both NBA spokesman Mike Bass and commissioner Adam Silver have denied that Freedom is being blackballed.