Enes Kanter Freedom invites WNBA commissioner to public discussion on ‘transgender’ player rules

Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom publicly invited Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and a league task force to a moderated discussion about the WNBA’s eligibility rules after declaring that he identifies as a woman and intends to enter the 2027 draft. 

In an Aug. 31 video on X, Freedom proposed a “peace summit” and said Caitlyn Jenner, a former Olympic male decathlete who publicly came out as a “transgender” woman in 2015, had agreed to moderate.

“The whole world is laughing at you. You have turned the WNBA into a laughingstock,” Freedom said. “It’s time to stop hiding behind closed-door meetings, excuses, and delays and finally give the public a clear answer.”

Freedom announced earlier in August that he planned to enter the 2027 WNBA draft in a bid to highlight the need to protect women’s sports. At the time, he said that if “simply declaring who you are is all that’s required, then I meet every single requirement necessary to compete in the WNBA.” 

“I am definitely not here to mock, make fun of, or disrespect any community or personal choices,” Freedom added, as Zeale News previously reported. “I am simply asking that the current rules be applied equally to everyone — the rules that represent the very values many WNBA players and coaches have publicly advocated for.”

A WNBA task force later reviewed the league’s policies during an Aug. 12 meeting but did not announce new rules. The league said there were “no immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA” and that discussions would continue in the “coming weeks and months.”

In his latest post, Freedom called on Engelbert and the task force to join him in an “open and respectful conversation” to address “the questions millions of people are asking.”

“Let’s put everything on the table and let the public hear both sides. If you truly believe in your position, you should have no problem defending it publicly,” he said, inviting Engelbert to name the time and place for the summit.

The former NBA center has become increasingly vocal about protecting women’s sports. He was ejected from an Aug. 23 game between the Chicago Sky and the Indiana Fever after a courtside confrontation with Sky guard Natasha Cloud. The Sky subsequently banned him from the team’s home games, with team owner Michael Alter accusing him of attempting to provoke a confrontation.

Video showed Cloud approaching Freedom while yelling and pointing at him. Freedom then stood and stepped onto the court before security intervened. Freedom, who was wearing a shirt reading “WOMAN, noun. adult human female,” said the confrontation followed his celebration of a play by Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, another outspoken athlete who has publicly opposed allowing men to compete in women’s sports.

Freedom suggested at the time that the message on his shirt provoked Cloud, saying he thought “it triggered her a lot.”

>> Enes Kanter Freedom kicked out of WNBA game while wearing shirt defending girls’ sports <<