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Varvara Rodchenko

Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom was ejected from the WNBA game between the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever held at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago on Sunday.
He was sitting courtside wearing a black T-shirt that read “Woman: noun, adult human female” across the chest. Late in the third quarter, Sky guard Natasha Cloud scored and confronted Freedom during a timeout. He stood up with his arms outstretched and stepped onto the court before security and players intervened.
Freedom was then escorted from the arena, displaying his shirt as he walked towards the lobby. “I just got kicked out of a WNBA game for supporting women! Let that sink in, America!” he said in a statement shared on X and Instagram.

Cloud responded on Threads, saying: “To every trans kid/person, you are a part of my community and tribe. You belong. You’re loved. You’re seen. You’re perfect as you are and you will always be protected by me.”
Cloud evidently interpreted Freedom’s shirt as a statement against transgender women joining the WNBA. The debate surrounding the subject was first sparked when Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham – who also played on Sunday – spoke against the possibility of transgender women joining the WNBA, saying in an ESPN profile in July that she wanted to protect “young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men”.
Freedom also took part in a small rally in support of Cunningham held before Sunday’s game.
So, how is Enes Kanter Freedom connected to the recent WNBA controversy? Here is what we know.
He declared himself ‘eligible’ for WNBA draft

Sunday’s incident came after Freedom and fellow former NBA player Royce White declared themselves eligible for the 2027 WNBA draft in recent weeks, claiming they identified as women. The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the two men are not deemed eligible for the draft, citing a source familiar with the decision. A source also told USA Today that the declarations were “publicity stunts” and that the league would not “give oxygen to efforts designed to mock the league or use this topic to demean or marginalise others”.
The WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement states that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA”. There has never been a transgender woman player in the league.
What is Enes Kanter Freedom’s background?

Born Enes Kanter on May 20, 1992, in Zurich, Switzerland, the 34-year-old is of Turkish descent and grew up in Turkey before moving to the US at 17. Selected as the third overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz, he went on to play 11 seasons in the league for teams including the Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks, Portland Trail Blazers and Boston Celtics. He played his final NBA game on February 8, 2022.
As a teenager growing up in Turkey, Freedom was surrounded by anti-American sentiment. He recounts in his 2025 memoir, In the Name of Freedom, how friends once urged him to burn an American flag. “I threw down the flag and the lighter and ran away, with the taunts of my friends ringing in my ears,” he writes.
In a 2023 op-ed for The Atlantic, Freedom claimed the Turkish government put a US$500,000 bounty on his head, imprisoned his father and got his brother fired from his basketball team. “I talk about the human rights violations and political prisoners, and that led them to put a bounty on my head and put my innocent father in jail, you know?” he told NewsNation in 2024.
In 2021, the athlete legally changed his surname to Freedom upon receiving US citizenship.
Who is Enes Kanter Freedom dating?

Freedom was dating Australian influencer Emily Sears in 2021, with the couple going Instagram-official on her account, but the current status of their relationship is unclear. Before that, Freedom was reportedly involved with WWE wrestler Dana Brooke in 2019.


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Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom wore a black T-shirt reading “Woman: noun, adult human female” at a WNBA game between the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever on August 23. Photo: Imagn Images

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The former New York Knicks player joined a rally in support of the Indiana Fever’s Sophie Cunningham, before clashing courtside with Natasha Cloud of the Chicago Sky


The former New York Knicks player joined a rally in support of the Indiana Fever’s Sophie Cunningham, before clashing courtside with Natasha Cloud of the Chicago Sky.


Why was Enes Kanter Freedom ejected from a WNBA game? The controversy over trans athletes, explained

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The former New York Knicks player joined a rally in support of the Indiana Fever’s Sophie Cunningham, before clashing courtside with Natasha Cloud of the Chicago Sky

The former New York Knicks player joined a rally in support of the Indiana Fever’s Sophie Cunningham, before clashing courtside with Natasha Cloud of the Chicago Sky