Enes Kanter Freedom
CHICAGO — A former NBA player, who has indicated he wishes to play in the WNBA as a way of illustrating his support for women-only professional sports, is suing Chicago's WNBA franchise and the city of Chicago, among others, for throwing him out of a Chicago Sky game and permanently banning him from the stadium, allegedly in retaliation for his views on the acceptability of transgender athletes competing in women's sports.
On Sept. 3, Enes Kanter Freedom filed suit in Chicago federal court against the Chicago Women's Basketball Operations LLC, the formal business name of the Chicago Sky professional women's basketball team; the city of Chicago; and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority.
Colloquially known as "McPier," the MPEA owns and operates several prominent Chicago public venues, including McCormick Place convention center, Navy Pier and Wintrust Arena, the home stadium for the Chicago Sky.
Freedom is represented in the case by attorneys from the America First Policy Institute, of Washington, D.C.
The lawsuit centers on an Aug. 23 incident in which Freedom was forcibly escorted from a Chicago Sky game at Wintrust Arena and reportedly banned from the stadium in the future, under orders of Sky owner, Michael Alter.
In the lawsuit, Freedom claims the ejection and ban amounts to violation of his constitutional free speech rights by the Sky and the taxpayer-funded entities that operate and secure Wintrust Arena.
The complaint notes that since July 2026, Freedom has become an outspoken critic of policies related to the exclusivity of women's sports espoused and established by the Women's National Basketball Association.
Particularly, Freedom has publicly criticized the WNBA for refusing to state publicly and clearly that participation in their league is limited only to players who are biologically female.
In furtherance of what Freedom describes as as his support for women-only sports leagues, Freedom earlier this year declared he would identify as a "woman" for the purposes of winning the chance to play in the WNBA.
Freedom, a professional basketball player and native of Turkey, played 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association, from 2011-2022. Freedom stands 6-feet-11-inches tall, and has a "wingspan" — defined as the distance from the tip of one middle finger to the tip of the other middle finger when both arms are stretched straight out to the sides — of 85 inches.
Freedom also has earned a reputation throughout his basketball career as an outspoken proponent for human rights causes. His criticism of the Islamist regime of Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for instance, prompted Turkey to revoke his native citizenship in 2017.
Freedom became an American citizen in 2021.
In his complaint, Freedom said his criticisms of the WNBA's refusal to prohibit transgender biological males from playing in their league fall in line with his other human rights promotion efforts.
Freedom's advocacy, however, came into direct conflict with the WNBA on Aug. 23, when he attended a game pitting the Chicago Sky against the Indiana Fever, whose roster includes Sophie Cunningham, a professional basketball player who also has publicly advocated for the WNBA to be exclusively open to biological women.
On Aug. 23, Freedom wore a T-shirt to the game at Wintrust Arena which read: "WOMAN noun, adult human female.”
According to the complaint, Freedom was verbally assailed as he entered the arena, by fans who allegedly shouted such phrases as: “Get your bitch ass out of Chicago!”;
“F--- you, bitch”; and
“Bitch ass n-----!”
Then, in the third quarter of the contest, Freedom was involved in a verbal altercation in which Chicago Sky player Natasha Cloud allegedly ran at him and preceded to unleash a "vulgar, profanity-laced verbal tirade" at Freedom, including yelling at Freedom that "Ms. Cunningham was not going to sleep with Plaintiff Freedom," as the complaint described the encounter.
Freedom claims "Cloud's attack" was "triggered by the message" on Freedom's shirt.
According to the complaint, Freedom claims witnesses can support his claim that Cloud's "tirade" was unprovoked by him.
According to the complaint, Freedom allegedly responded calmly, saying only: “I’m not trying to sleep with her. I’m just here to protect women and support her.”
However, following the incident, Freedom was ordered removed from the arena by security and banned from returning by Alter.
According to the complaint, Alter allegedly later "mischaracterized the interaction" by claiming Freedom was "chirping " at Cloud, precipitating her actions.
According to the complaint, Alter publicly stated: “It was pretty clear to us that his purpose of coming here was trying to be provocative and just see how much attention he could get and stir up and create.”
Further, Alter reportedly justified Freedom's removal and ban, claiming Chicago Police had identified him as a "threat."
Later, Alter added that Freedom had "demonstrated to us unequivocally that he has the potential to be a threat" and likened his actions to "shooting a gun."
For the ban to be lifted, Alter reportedly said Freedom would need "to prove to us that he understands that what he did was completely beyond the pale and not allowed and is never going to happen again. So how he does that is up to him to figure out.”
Since Chicago Police are ultimately responsible for overseeing security at Wintrust Arena under MPEA, Freedom included the city of Chicago as a defendant in the action.
Freedom claims the claim he was a "threat" amounts to an after-the-fact justification for the decision to remove and ban him in disapproval of his views on women's sports.
Since Wintrust Arena is publicly owned, Freedom asserts neither Chicago Police nor the Chicago Sky had any right to remove him from the game or ban him from the arena over his choice to wear a shirt that contained a slogan expressing views on matters of public concern without vulgarity or obscenity.
The lawsuit asks the court to order the Chicago Sky and MPEA to lift the ban on Freedom's attendance at events at Wintrust Arena and to award him unspecified nominal and compensatory damages, plus attorney fees.
None of the defendants have yet responded to the lawsuit in court.
