RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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x whatsapp-stroke copylink google Add Al Jazeera on Google info By Reuters Published On 24 Aug 2026 24 Aug 2026 Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom was ejected after a verbal altercation with WNBA player Natasha Cloud of the Chicago Sky during the third quarter of Chicago’s loss to the visiting Indiana Fever.
Kanter Freedom, sitting courtside, stood up and took a few steps towards the court with his arms outstretched after Cloud began pointing and yelling at him at the start of an Indiana timeout on Sunday.
A game official and security personnel got between them, and her teammates pulled Cloud away. The official gestured for Kanter Freedom to be ejected, and he was escorted from his seat by team and arena security.
Kanter Freedom, 34, wore a black T-shirt that read: “WOMAN noun. Adult human female.”
Cloud, 34, spoke with team and league security after the Sky’s 113-90 loss but did not address the media. She did post a statement on social media, per CBS Sports.
“To every trans kid/person, You are a part of MY community & tribe. You belong. You’re loved. You’re seen. You’re perfect as you are. & you will always be protected by me,” Cloud wrote.
Kanter Freedom, who had a conversation with police officers before exiting Wintrust Arena, later wrote on his X account, “I just got kicked out of a @WNBA game for supporting WOMEN! Let that sink in, America.”
Sky coach Tyler Marsh said at his postgame news conference that Cloud did not want to be a distraction.
“I told her she wasn’t,” Marsh said. “I told her we all embrace her as someone who protects our team and people who need to be protected. Tash is always gonna stand on that, and we stand for Tash.”
Marsh also had a message for spectators, apparently with Kanter Freedom in mind.
“There’s so many good things about this league and so many good things about the play of these players, that if you come to a game, you should probably come to enjoy the basketball,” Marsh 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.”
Kanter Freedom, formerly known as Enes Kanter, played centre for 11 years in the NBA for five teams from 2011-12 to 2021-22 and averaged 11.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 21.5 minutes in 748 regular-season games (259 starts).
He also has spoken out on social issues, including the debate about transgender athletes. The WNBA, which has never had a known transgender player, has been ensnared in the issue, only heightened when the Fever’s Sophie Cunningham came out strongly in favour of women’s sports being solely for women.
Cunningham emphasised in her remarks last month in an ESPN profile that “girls should never have to compete with biological men”.
Cunningham later said on July 22 that she does not “dislike anyone” and that there is “room to love everyone”. She continued, “I’m also there to love biological women, and I think that there are rights that need to be protected. And, like I said, I’m gonna stand true to that. I’ll never falter in my beliefs in that. But I have never once stated that I hated the trans community.”
There have been rallies outside WNBA arenas involving people who are both pro-Cunningham and anti-Cunningham.
Kanter Freedom and another former NBA player, Royce White, have talked about being eligible for the 2027 WNBA Draft, and both claim to now identify as women, according to media reports.
The league does not have a public policy about transgender participation. The collective bargaining agreement, signed in March, states that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA”.
Cloud is in her 11th season in the WNBA and first in Chicago. She entered Sunday averaging 11.4 points, 5.0 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 29.1 minutes in 36 games (23 starts).
She has also played for the Washington Mystics (2015-19, 2021-23), the Phoenix Mercury (2024) and the New York Liberty (2025).
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