Enes Kanter Freedom banned from home games of WNBA's Chicago Sky — CBS News — Top

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Enes Kanter Freedom banned from home games of WNBA's Chicago Sky — CBS News — Top | AIPROPX

Chicago \u2014 The Chicago Sky have banned Enes Kanter Freedom from their home games after the former NBA center was ejected from Sunday\u0027s loss to the Indiana Fever.Owner Michael Alter made the announcement in a rare news conference on Tuesday. Alter told reporters Freedom isn\u0027t allowed in Wintrust Arena for Sky games "unless sometime in the future he\u0027s able to prove to us to our satisfaction that he is able to abide by our rules without being a potential threat." The 6-foot-10, 250-pound Freedom was removed from Sunday\u0027s game after he was confronted by Sky guard Natasha Cloud late in the third quarter. Freedom was sitting along the baseline wearing a black shirt that read "WOMAN noun. adult human female."The Fever called for a timeout after Cloud scored inside with 1:22 left in the third. Cloud then did a chest bump with teammate Aicha Coulibaly before turning around and walking in Freedom\u0027s direction. Cloud, 34, started yelling and pointing at Freedom, also 34, as she approached him.\u00a0Video showed\u00a0a standing Kanter holding his arms out and taking one step on the court as security and a handful of Sky players moved in between the two."It was pretty clear to us that his purpose of coming here was trying to be provocative and just see how much attention he could get and stir up and create," Alter told reporters. Freedom stopped near the basket to plead his case to security as he was escorted from the court area. He spun around while holding his shirt out and encouraged the crowd to respond as he walked toward the front lobby. He had a conversation with a group of police officers before departing the arena."I didn\u0027t see it. We were talking about the next play in our huddle," Indiana star Caitlin Clark said, "so I think that\u0027s probably a question for Chicago." \u00a0 "I just got kicked out of a WNBA game for supporting WOMEN!" Freedom wrote on social media. "Let that sink in, AMERICA!" Freedom and Royce White, another former NBA player, have declared for the WNBA draft, saying they identify as women. But a person familiar with the decision told the AP on Monday that they are not eligible. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation.\u00a0The WNBA has been the subject of recent debates on whether transgender women \u2014 people assigned male at birth who transition to align with their gender identity \u2014 should be allowed to participate in the league. There has never been such a player in the WNBA. Although the league\u0027s collective bargaining agreement says the WNBA is restricted to women, it contains no more specific language about gender identity or sex assigned at birth. Also Tuesday, Alter said the team has reviewed what happened when multiple sex toys were thrown onto the court during a 73-70 victory over Golden State on Friday night. "We know who the people are," Alter said. "We saw them, but we don\u0027t have their names yet. We\u0027re trying to get their names. We know how they exited, so we\u0027re going to address that to make that more difficult."