Enes Kanter Freedom has offered his account of the courtside confrontation with Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud that ended with security escorting him out of Wintrust Arena during Sunday night’s Sky-Fever game.
The former NBA center told Fox News he was in Chicago as a fan, enjoying the game with friends, when things turned late in the third quarter after Indiana’s Sophie Cunningham hit a three-pointer.
Freedom said he raised his arms to celebrate the shot, and that a few possessions later Cloud came toward him shouting. By his telling, she yelled, “She’s not going to sleep with you” — to which he says he responded that he was not trying to sleep with anyone and was “just here to protect women.”
He said he was shocked by the language Cloud used with young fans sitting nearby, saying he could not believe the profanity given how many kids in Chicago look up to her.
Walked out without a reason, he says
Freedom said security then told him he had to leave, declined to say why, and all but pushed him out of the building. He said he told police officers afterward that he had only been there to “protect women.”
Cloud did not address the exchange directly, but posted a message on Threads on Sunday night telling trans people they belong, are loved, and “will always be protected by me.”
Sky coach Tyler Marsh backed his guard after Chicago’s 113-90 loss to the Fever. “We all embrace her as someone that protects our team, and protects people that need to be protected,” he said. “Tash is always gonna stand on that, and we stand for Tash.”
A month of escalating provocation
The run-in is the latest turn in a controversy Freedom has been stoking for weeks. After Cunningham said in an ESPN feature that she wants to “protect young girls” from “biological men” in sports, Freedom filmed himself signing a document declaring for the 2027 WNBA draft.
Last week he escalated further, claiming he had spoken with eight men about entering the draft if the league does not clarify its eligibility rules, and contrasting the G League’s $45,000 salaries with the $1.4 million earned by top WNBA players.
The WNBA’s anti-hate task force met this month and said it found no immediate eligibility matters affecting the league. “We strongly denounce the bad-faith efforts to use these topics to demean or marginalize others,” a league spokesperson said.
TMZ had reported before tipoff that Freedom planned to attend the game.
Reporting in this story is based on Freedom’s Fox News interview and coverage by the New York Post. The photograph is a stock file image, not a photograph of the incident described.
