WNBA has ‘no idea what they’re about to face,’ Enes Kanter Freedom says as league takes on trans athlete issue
Enes Kanter Freedom said Saturday he was “prepared” to play in the WNBA
Freedom drummed up some controversy earlier this month when he “declared” for the WNBA Draft after lack of support for Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham and her belief that transgender women shouldn’t have to compete against females.
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Enes Kanter Freedom attends the Algemeiner 50th Anniversary J100 Gala at The Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City on Nov. 29, 2022. (Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
With the WNBA lacking clarity on its gender eligibility policy and players and coaches seemingly supporting trans athletes’ abilities to join the WNBA, Freedom decided to attempt to make the league put up or shut up.
Freedom appeared on Fox News Channel’s “My View with Lara Trump” on Saturday to talk about the issue.
“I think I will be the best draft pick in WNBA history, literally,” he said.
Freedom said Golden State Valkyries star Gabby Williams’ support for trans athletes and Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve’s “support trans kids” shirt was what led him to this moment.
“So, there’s other major sports that obviously closed that loophole,” he said. “They added ‘biological female’ or ‘born female’ in their collective bargaining. But when I look at them, the WNBA, they didn’t have kind of, you know, reference to biological or anything like that. And all the coaches, I was watching this, and I believe the coach of Minnesota came out with a ‘trans kids belong’ (shirt), so I was like, if no one’s against it and all the coaches are OK with it, think about how much money I can bring, think about all the endorsement deals.
Enes Kanter of the New York Knicks is in action against the Miami Heat during the first half at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Fla., on Oct. 24, 2018. (Getty Images)
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League officials met to discuss the trans athlete topic and later put out a statement, saying they were continuing the conversation but needled the media for allegedly sewing division in the sport and called out “bad-faith” efforts to undermine the organization.
“The WNBA has no idea what they’re about to face. They’re still trying to figure out what a woman is,” he said. “So, let’s see if they can figure that out. So, let’s see what kind of rules that they’re gonna come up with.”
OutKick reached out to the WNBA for comment.
Freedom expresses support for Cunningham
Cunningham took her stance on trans athletes in women and girls’ sports in an interview with ESPN.
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that.’ I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
Kanter told Trump that he believed Cunningham was an “American hero.”
“First of all, I want to say is, she is an American hero,” he said. “Everywhere she goes I see now a lot of people are coming out an actually defending her. But obviously, if you are standing up for something you believe in, you’re gonna get hate all the time.
“But I think she’s inspiring not only the players in the WNBA but girls from all over the world. Not only in America because I get so many messages and they’re saying that, from all over the world, they say, ‘Hey, if you ever see Sophie Cunningham, can you please say hi to her?’”
Several rallies have taken place before WNBA games in support of Cunningham. The latest occurred before the Fever’s game against the New York Liberty on Saturday.
