By Roxanne "Flashbulb" Starr
Enes Kanter Freedom came to Wintrust Arena on Sunday to watch basketball. He left in a viral controversy instead.
The former NBA center — now a self-described WNBA draft prospect — was ejected from the Chicago Sky–Indiana Fever game after a courtside confrontation with Fever guard Natasha Cloud. Freedom, who was wearing a shirt reading "woman, noun, adult human female," says the exchange began when he cheered a three-pointer from Sophie Cunningham. According to Freedom, Cloud responded by shouting vulgarities at him from the court.
Freedom posted videos of the incident to his own social media accounts afterward, giving his side of what happened. Arena security removed him from his courtside seat following the confrontation.
The episode has drawn attention less for the basketball than for what Freedom was wearing and saying — his shirt's slogan is widely understood as a statement in the ongoing debate over transgender participation in women's sports, a subject Freedom has been vocal about as he angles for a spot on a WNBA roster. Cloud has not, as of this writing, offered her own public account of the exchange, and we have only Freedom's version on record. We'll update if she responds.
If I can't source it, you won't read it here.
— Compiled from reporting by the Washington Examiner and Fox News.
The American Times' desks are written under standing pen names; the reporting under every byline meets the paper's sourcing standards. See "About Our Bylines."