Nearly a week after a verbal altercation with former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom, Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud said she is done talking about “an irrelevant person” as she prepared to face the host New York Liberty on Saturday.
“I won’t be talking about anything that happened with an irrelevant person,” Cloud told reporters Saturday. “What I will focus on is what actually affects women and children currently in 2026.”
Kanter Freedom was ejected Sunday from the Sky’s 113-90 loss to the visiting Indiana Fever. Sitting courtside during the third quarter, he stood up and took a few steps toward the court with his arms outstretched after Cloud began pointing and yelling at him at the start of an Indiana timeout.
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.”
Kanter Freedom, formerly known as Enes Kanter, played center 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.
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.
“I will not talk about an irrelevant threat to our lives, because that’s exactly what it is,” Cloud said Saturday. “I want to talk about real issues that face women, and it’s not our trans human beings and it’s not our drag queens. It’s not our gay community. There is a certain demographic of people that you can generally search. It’s a simple Google search of what is the greatest threat to women and children currently in 2026 in the United States of America.”
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.”
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 favor of women’s sports being solely for women, emphasizing in her remarks in a July ESPN profile that “girls should never have to compete with biological men.”
There have been rallies outside WNBA arenas involving people who are both pro-Cunningham and anti-Cunningham.
“We won’t allow our league to be used as a pawn for any political or cultural wars that the right wants,” Cloud said. “We’re absolutely not going to. This league has always stood on principle and on our humanitarian efforts.”
Last year, a New York Times poll displayed that 79% of Americans don’t want men playing in women’s sports.
Sky coach Tyler Marsh had a message for spectators after Sunday’s game, 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.”
Cloud, 34, spoke with team and league security after Sunday’s loss but did not address the media. She did post a statement on social media, writing, “To every trans kid/person, You are apart 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.”
On Tuesday, Sky owner Michael Alter banned Kanter Freedom from attending any future Chicago home games at Wintrust Arena, a move Cloud applauded, saying, “That’s what protection looks like on the whole. I want everyone to hear that. That’s what protection looks like from the right.”
Cloud is in her 11th season in the WNBA and first in Chicago. She is averaging 11.3 points, 5.0 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 28.7 minutes in 38 games (25 starts).
She also has played for the Washington Mystics (2015-19, 2021-23), the Phoenix Mercury (2024) and New York Liberty (2025). She has career marks of 9.0 points, 5.3 assists and 3.3 rebounds in 365 games (308 starts).
“I just had a fan who identifies as trans cry to me in here, and this is why I do what I do,” Cloud said. “None of this is performative. I don’t want to put myself in front of fires all the time. I don’t want to be the one that always has to speak up. But somebody f—ing has to do it.”
–Field Level Media
