Ex-NBA player who declared for 2027 WNBA draft kicked out of game after tense confrontation with player

Chicago Sky player Natasha Cloud being held back by teammates after shouting at Enes Kanter Freedom.

A former 11-year veteran of the NBA was kicked out of the arena where a WNBA game was taking place Sunday night in Chicago after a tense confrontation ensued between him and an irate player over what was written on the T-shirt he wore. 

Enes Kanter Freedom, one of two former NBA players who have declared eligibility for next year's WNBA draft, attended the WNBA game at Wintrust Arena in Chicago between the Sky and the Indiana Fever and was seated in one of the front rows behind a basket. He wore a black T-shirt that had the word "Woman" printed in pink on the front along with the definition of the word beneath it.

The WNBA has been locked in an ongoing controversy this summer over, of all things, support for transgender players, with many of the league's players and coaches issuing strong post-game words in support of anyone who identifies as transgender. The chief exception in the WNBA is Fever star Sophie Cunningham who has spoken out in support of girls and women.

During an interview earlier this summer, Cunningham said supported "Young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”

Below the word woman on Freedom's shirt, the term was defined as "adult human" and "female." The WNBA in recent weeks held a days-long emergency task force meeting to try to define what a woman is and who exactly is eligible to play in the league. The meeting was adjourned with no definition agreed upon. 

"Freedom of speech has never looked this good," the former NBA player wrote on X, marveling that the definition printed on the front of his shirt was "somehow controversial."

Freedom has been publicly pressuring the WNBA to take a position one way or the other on whether biological men are allowed to compete in the league. Some believe the league's indecision on the issue is because biological males are already playing in the league. Late in the third quarter, Natasha Cloud of the Chicago Sky scored a basket near where Freedom was seated and she abruptly started shouting at him. Teammates held her back as she approached Freedom.

“Natasha Cloud scored. She came over and threw her hands up and was talking s**t to his face,” a fan who was seated near the confrontation told The Athletic, adding that she didn’t know who Freedom was before the dustup. “So he stood up and said, like, ‘What? What do you want?’ He didn’t do a thing. I’ve sat next to him the whole game. He’s a great guy. He’s taken probably 50 pictures tonight.”

Video showed Freedom receiving a mix of boos and cheers as security guards led him out of the arena. It was the second T-shirt incident in one week at a WNBA game after a mother and daughter were told to cover up the shirts supporting women's and girls' sports they wore to a game in Atlanta last week. If they didn't cover up, a security guard warned, they'd be kicked out.

Kanter told Outkick afterward that Cloud's outburst was in response to Freedom having cheered for Cunningham. "Sophie Cunningham shot a three, and I put my hands up to celebrate," Freedom said. "Natasha came back and started screaming and yelling and said, ‘She’s not gonna sleep with you.' And I was like, "I am not trying to sleep with her. I'm just here to protect women and support her."

Freedom said that when he stood up and spread his arms, he simply repeated that he was there to protect women, and Cloud proceeded to drop a flurry of "F-bombs" in front of children.  

"I just got kicked out of a @WNBA game for supporting WOMEN!" Freedom said in a post on X after the brouhaha. "Let that sink in, AMERICA!" Below, watch the tense moment from late in the third quarter.