Enes Kanter was just having a little fun when he tweeted, and then promptly deleted a deer emoji this summer prior to opting in to his contract with the New York Knicks.
"You gotta mess with the media a little," Kanter said to ESPN's Royce Young. "Because I know I was not going to go to the Milwaukee Bucks. It's the Milwaukee Bucks. Unless they give you good, good money, then go, but you don't leave New York for Milwaukee."
Reports had circulated in the weeks following the conclusion of the NBA Finals that the Bucks were one of several teams eyeing Kanter's services.
The 26-year-old ultimately picked up his 2018-19 player option worth $18.9 million - a decision he didn't know he was going to make until the very last day.
"I swear. The night before I went to my friend's house, I ate dinner and I was coming back to my house in an Uber and I was so bored. So I posted the deer emoji, and five minutes later I deleted it. On purpose," Kanter said.
"So everybody was talking about it. I was like, 'This is going viral, this is crazy.'"
Kanter averaged a double-double of 14.1 points and 11 rebounds on 59.2 percent shooting for the 29-win Knicks last season.