Photo: Frenchieinportland via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped. This adapted image is also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Enes Kanter Goes Plant-Based After the NBA Bubble and Joins PETA Campaigns

The Portland Trail Blazers center wears a suit of leafy greens to urge fans to 'Turn Over a New Leaf'

NBA center Enes Kanter is fronting a new PETA campaign urging people to "Turn Over a New Leaf" in 2021, wearing a suit made of leafy greens. The ads launched this week.

The Portland Trail Blazers big man changed the way he eats during last season's NBA bubble in Orlando. With weeks alone in a hotel room, he started reading about where his food came from. He told Boston Public Radio: "When they put us in the NBA bubble, we had nothing to do but just stay in our room," and "I started to research about all the factory farms where our meat comes from".

What he found hit him hard. He told PETA, as Species Unite reports:

[T]he more I read and the more I watched and learned and educated myself, my heart was just shattering,

"That was the first time I decided we need change, and change cannot wait anymore," he said.

Kanter describes his diet as plant-based and has been honest that it's a journey: in October Boston Public Radio reported that he was not a full-on vegan yet and was working hard to cut down on meat. His message to fans is simple: "As an athlete, if I can do this, you can do this, too."

He's not the first NBA player to make the switch. Chris Paul went plant-based after working on The Game Changers, and JaVale McGee won his third NBA title in the bubble in October. Kyrie Irving even starred in a Nike advert about his plant-based diet.