Somehow… this matter isn’t done yet. In the last week of August, Enes Kanter Freedom sat in the Fox News studio with Laura Ingraham and boldly declared that he identified as a woman and should be allowed to play in the WNBA. Call it a media stunt or otherwise, Kanter had put the league under severe strain since the start of the month. Earlier, in a post on X, he also said he was an eligible WNBA prospect and would declare for the 2027 draft.
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For a long time, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and the league didn’t directly respond to Kanter’s claims. League sources said Kanter was ineligible for the WNBA and that they were “not going to give oxygen to efforts designed to mock the league or use this topic to demean and marginalize others.” But recently, on Friday, when the league denied Kanter’s eligibility in a letter to Congress, the former NBA player didn’t have kind words for Engelbert’s response.
“The WNBA has been dealing with questions about eligibility and gender identity, yet its commissioner has written a letter to members of Congress declaring that I’m a man,” Kanter told Jackson Thompson of Outkick. “So if the league is still working through these questions, how can its commissioner be so certain about my eligibility without explaining the standards that she’s applying? If the task force itself has not reached a clear definition, why is the commissioner making such a definitive statement?
“If in America, right, people wake up and they identify themselves as Pikachu, unicorns, dogs and cats. So the people are okay with that, but I wake up one day and identify myself as a woman, and now they’re telling me how to feel. This is so disrespectful and shameful…Who is she to tell me how I feel or what I think? I just want her to respect my identity because I am telling you that I identify as a woman. I think it’s shameful and disrespectful that she thinks that I’m a man.”
So, what exactly did the WNBA say about Kanter, and why did they suddenly decide to address the matter? The league sent a letter responding to a September 17 inquiry from Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., and four other House Republicans about eligibility, player safety and confrontations with fans.
In the letter, Engelbert has clearly written that “only women are eligible to play in the WNBA, and the individuals you cite in your letter are both men.” But the league, again, did not define what constitutes a woman under its CBA…
It didn’t take long for Kanter to post a picture of the league’s response to Congress on his X handle, slam Engelbert, and also ask, “IS THE #WNBA TRANSPHOBIC?”
“Is the WNBA denying people the right to define their own gender identity?” Kanter further wrote. “You can’t have it both ways!”
Kanter was already trending on social media after announcing he’d attend Game 3 of the WNBA Finals at State Farm Arena on October 21. He also mocked the two star players, Gabby Williams and Angel Reese, in his announcement video.
Kanter cited the Golden State Valkyries player’s words from August, when she said she’d “welcome” a trans player on her own team or even against her team. He said that Williams’ words gave him hope and motivation “to come out as a woman” and to want to be part of the upcoming draft.
On the other hand, Kanter called Reese his “favorite diva” and revealed that she had blocked him on social media. But he clarified that it wasn’t going to alter his plans.
Kanter’s last appearance at a WNBA game was anything but peaceful. He showed up for the August 23 battle between the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky, wearing a T-shirt that read, “WOMAN noun. adult human female.” His presence alone drew extreme reactions from fans before he entered the arena. It just got worse from there.
Sky guard Natasha Cloud walked toward Kanter and yelled at him. Her teammates held her back while security immediately surrounded Kanter. Although no evidence suggested the former NBA player instigated the matter, he was still ejected and escorted off the property. A day or two later, the Chicago franchise’s owner Michael Alter announced that Kanter was banned from Wintrust Arena. But it was never turned into a league-wide ban.
With Finals Game 3 scheduled to take place at the full 17,000-seat State Farm Arena, the attention on Kanter will be much greater than it was at Sky’s arena. The former NBA player even revealed during his public announcement that his T-shirt is “going to blow your minds.”
Kanter is currently in the middle of a lawsuit he filed last month against Sky, the City of Chicago, and the operators of Wintrust Arena. That legal tension isn’t stopping him from making his next move in the Finals. And with the noise he is causing before his attendance, it wouldn’t be surprising to expect further chaos.