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Former NBA centre Enes Kanter Freedom was ejected from Sunday night’s Indiana-Chicago WNBA game after he was confronted by Sky guard Natasha Cloud late in the third quarter.
Freedom was sitting along the baseline. He had on a black shirt that read “WOMAN noun. adult human female.”
The Fever called for a timeout after Cloud scored inside with 1:22 left in the third. Cloud then did a chest bump with teammate Aicha Coulibaly before turning around and walking in Kanter’s direction.
Cloud, 34, started yelling and pointing at Kanter, also 34, as she approached him. A standing Kanter held his arms out and took one step on the court as security and a handful of Sky players moved in between the two.
“There was just a fan incident and the security handled it, and we’re just going to focus on the game,” Chicago forward Azura Stevens said after the Sky’s 113-90 loss.
Chicago coach Tyler Marsh said Cloud was concerned about being a distraction for the team.
“I told her she wasn’t,” Marsh said. “I told her that we all embrace her as someone that protects our team and protects people that need to be protected, and so Tash is always going to stand on that, and we stand for Tash.”
Freedom stopped near the basket to plead his case to security as he was escorted from the court area. He spun around while holding his shirt out and encouraged the crowd to respond as he walked toward the front lobby.
He had a conversation with a group of police officers before departing Wintrust Arena.
“I didn’t see it, we were talking about the next play in our huddle,” Indiana star Caitlin Clark said, “so I think that’s probably a question for Chicago.”
Cloud met with team and league security after the game. She did not speak with the media.
WNBA subject of debate on transgender women
The WNBA has been the subject of recent debates on whether transgender women — people assigned male at birth who transition to align with their gender identity — should be allowed to participate in the league. There has never been a trans woman player in the WNBA.
Los Angeles Sparks guard Layshia Clarendon, who was the WNBA’s first openly transgender and non-binary player, retired in 2024. Clarendon was assigned female at birth.
Although the league’s collective bargaining agreement says the WNBA is restricted to women, it contains no more specific language about gender identity or sex assigned at birth.
In an ESPN profile published last month, Fever guard Sophie Cunningham said she was opposed to transgender girls and women competing in girls’ and women’s sports.
Freedom and Royce White, another former NBA player, have mockingly declared themselves eligible for the WNBA draft, saying they now identify as women.
Kanter joined a small rally in support of Cunningham outside the arena before the game.
Asked if he had a message for Kanter, Marsh praised the league and its players.
“If you come to a game, you should probably come to enjoy the basketball,” he said. “That seems pretty simple to me. I think these players deserve that and have earned that. Being a former basketball player, you should probably understand and feel that, too.”
Basketball superstar Caitlin Clark has brought more eyeballs to the WNBA than ever before, but the spotlight hasn’t always been about the wins and losses. For The National, CBC’s Jamie Strashin breaks down how the league got sucked into America’s culture war this season.
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