Enes Kanter Freedom is doubling down on his WNBA eligibility challenge, saying on Fox News that he identifies as a woman even as league sources say he cannot enter the league.
Former NBA center Enes Kanter Freedom used a Monday appearance on The Ingraham Angle to push back on reports surrounding his WNBA eligibility challenge. The segment came one day after Freedom was removed from the Indiana Fever-Chicago Sky game following a courtside confrontation with Sky guard Natasha Cloud.
“I am a woman. I should be allowed to play,” Freedom said during the interview while arguing that Article XIII, Section 1 supports his position. The actual eligibility language says “Only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA,” but it does not say that self-identification alone establishes eligibility, and the league does not have a separate public policy detailing transgender player eligibility.
https://twitter.com/EnesFreedom/status/2087627958907236693
Freedom and fellow former NBA player Royce White announced earlier in August that they intended to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft while saying they identify as women, framing their moves as a challenge to the league’s rules. Sources around the WNBA have since said both men are not eligible to play and have described the declarations as publicity stunts rather than legitimate eligibility cases.
The dispute intensified at Wintrust Arena on Sunday, when Freedom sat along the baseline wearing a shirt that read “WOMAN noun. adult human female.” Late in the third quarter, Cloud approached Freedom during a timeout, Freedom stood and moved toward the court, and security and Sky personnel stepped between them before Freedom was escorted from the arena during Indiana’s 113-90 victory.
Cloud did not address reporters after the game, but later posted a message of support for transgender people, while Sky coach Tyler Marsh said the team stood behind her. Fever coach Stephanie White called the episode “a social media thing” and urged reporters not to amplify the confrontation beyond the basketball.
@foxnews “I am identifying as a woman and I should be allowed to play.” Enes Kanter Freedom joined “The Ingraham Angle” to explain his decision to declare for the WNBA draft, saying he’s “just following the rules.” The WNBA has faced backlash for not directly addressing the issue of what makes someone a woman for purposes of WNBA eligibility. The former NBA player spoke out one night after he was thrown out of a WNBA game he attended as a fan following a heated courtside exchange with Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud.
Freedom has continued to dispute reports that he is ineligible, saying he has not received direct notice from the WNBA and insisting the written rules should be applied to him as he interprets them. For now, the divide remains clear: Freedom is treating the absence of a public definition of “woman” as an opening, while league sources say he and White are ineligible and no immediate change to the rules is expected.
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