Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom has been banned from future Chicago Sky home games at Wintrust Arena following a confrontation with guard Natasha Cloud during a WNBA game on Sunday. The ban was announced by the team after Freedom was ejected from the game for an incident involving Cloud.
Freedom, wearing a black shirt that read, "WOMAN noun. adult human female," was seated courtside during the third quarter of the game against the Indiana Fever. As Cloud approached him after scoring, she began shouting and pointing in his direction. Freedom then rose from his seat and stepped onto the court with his arms extended, prompting security and players to intervene. The team's owner, Michael Alter, stated that the ban would remain unless Freedom could demonstrate he would abide by the team's rules without posing a "potential threat."
In response to the ban and the incident, Freedom spoke on "Fox News @ Night," addressing comments made by Los Angeles Sparks star Cameron Brink. Brink had previously dismissed the debate over transgender athletes in women's sports as a "non-issue" for the WNBA and suggested Freedom was seeking relevance.
Freedom countered Brink's remarks by stating, "You guys are the one that [have] been advocating about male[s] playing in your league or against your team. Well here I am, I have arrived and I have every right to play because I identify as a woman." He further accused Brink of hypocrisy, saying, "For you to come out and act like I shouldn't be playing, you are anti-trans and it is unacceptable."
Freedom also addressed comments from Megan Rapinoe, a two-time Women's World Cup champion. Rapinoe had questioned his assertion that he was "just out there to protect women." Freedom offered Rapinoe $5 million to donate to a charity of her choice if she could beat him one-on-one in soccer, referencing her past advocacy for males participating in women's sports.
Regarding the confrontation with Cloud, Freedom expressed willingness to speak with her directly. However, he laid out a condition for resolving the dispute: "Unless the WNBA adds the word 'biological' next to the [word] 'female' in their collective bargaining [agreement] in Article 13, Section 1A, then I will drop everything."