WNBA veteran Sophie Cunningham does not want transgender athletes in women’s sports, and that may include former NBA forwards Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White.
Both former first-round NBA Draft picks who have since turned their attention to conservative politics, Kanter and White have publicly declared their intention to join the WNBA in an elaborate ploy to shame the league into banning transgender athletes. Currently the WNBA does not have any transgender players who were assigned ‘male’ at birth.
It was Cunningham who seemed to have inspired the pair with her recent comments objecting to the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports. Since then, the Indiana Fever forward has received both public encouragement and criticism, but Cunningham did not offer either to Kanter or White.
‘I’m gonna let them do them,’ Cunningham told ESPN. ‘I’m just focused on the Fever and on our sport. I think we have four more games left. I’m trying to just really dial in and keep the main thing the main thing.’
While Cunningham is reluctant to publicly embrace Kanter Freedom, the Swiss-born Turkish-American player has not hesitated to invoke her name as he takes aim at the WNBA.
After Kanter Freedom was ejected from a Chicago Sky game last month following a courtside confrontation with Natasha Cloud, he revealed to Fox News he actually received a text message from Cunningham about the incident.
Sophie Cunningham doesn’t want men in the WNBA, and that appears to mean Enes Kanter
The ex-NBA star was ejected from a Chicago Sky game after his spat with Natasha Cloud
Kanter sat courtside as he watched Cunningham and the Fever face the Sky last month
‘What happened?’ she asked, according to Kanter Freedom, who insisted the pair are now friends.
‘She’s standing for the truth… I think she’s an idol now and an American hero,’ Kanter Freedom said. ‘I’m just really happy that finally someone from the WNBA got up and said, ‘Enough is enough. We have to stand for American values.’
On the night of the Cloud incident, Kanter Freedom chose to wear a provocative T-shirt that included a definition of the word ‘woman.’
‘Woman. Noun,’ it read. ‘Adult human female.’
The words ‘woman’ and ‘female’ were highlighted in red.
Kanter Freedom has insisted he did not violate the WNBA’s Fan Code of Conduct. While he admitted to standing up and raising his arms during the game, he said he was was just celebrating a Cunningham 3-pointer. He previously alleged that Cloud told him: ‘She’s not going to sleep with you.’
Earlier this month, he sued the Chicago Sky, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority and the City of Chicago over the incident. Kanter Freedom alleged in his lawsuit that those three entities unjustly ejected him from the Sky’s game with the Fever on August 23.
He further claimed the trio of defendants mistreated him that night as he did nothing wrong.
In a post on X announcing his lawsuit, Kanter Freedom wrote: ‘SEE YOU IN COURT!!! Just filed a federal complaint. I’m taking legal action over my ejection from the @ChicagoSky game while peacefully exercising my First Amendment rights.
‘My T-shirt did what the whole @WNBA apparently couldn’t: define a woman. No threats. No violence. Just biology. And somehow, that required a security escort. You don’t have to agree with my speech but you don’t get to silence me for it.
‘I will not be intimidated. I will not be silenced. I will continue to stand for women and defend free speech.’
In a statement responding to Kanter Freedom’s ‘meritless and frivolous’ lawsuit, Chicago Sky owner Michael Alter said he will ‘look forward to the truth prevailing in court.’
White also appeared at a Fever game last month, only he was wearing a wig amid his attempt to enter the WNBA Draft.
The 35-year-old played in only a few NBA games before falling out of the league as he battled an intense fear of flying. He later bounced around to a few other leagues and tried his hand at MMA before joining the Republican Party and entering politics.
Most recently, White lost a US Senate primary in Minnesota to former NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya.
