In 2004, Ron Artest ran into the stands at the Palace of Auburn Hills, and the image became one of the most infamous in league history. A former NBA player just watched Enes Kanter display a different kind of confrontation, and he wants no part of defending it.
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Former LA Lakers center Montrezl Harrell didn’t hold back when asked about the ongoing WNBA controversy involving Kanter and Royce White.
“That stuff is corny and lame,” Harrell said, via Scoop B. “For guys like that to use their platform to disrespect it, that’s corny. I’m not a fan of it at all. You don’t gain any cool points off of it. You’re two grown men running into arenas and public spaces making a mockery of yourselves.”
“Who is that helping? I’m never going to say I understand what you’re doing … I know what you’re trying to say about men not playing with women, but just use your words as a grown man. Don’t try to berate women. Even when Enes Kanter got into it with Natasha Cloud, that was corny. You don’t gain cool points off that.”
The confrontation Harrell mentioned happened when Kanter was escorted out of Wintrust Arena during a Chicago Sky game against the Indiana Fever. It was after a heated courtside exchange with Sky guard Natasha Cloud.
Cloud approached Kanter Freedom and began speaking to him during a third-quarter break. He responded by stepping toward the court with his arms extended before security intervened.
Kanter Freedom posted afterward, “I just got kicked out of a @WNBA game for supporting WOMEN! Let that sink in, AMERICA!” The Sky subsequently banned him from home games, and Cloud later called for a league-wide ban, telling reporters, “We’re asking for protection, and that’s what protection looks like from a man.”
Kanter and Royce White declared for the 2027 WNBA Draft specifically to challenge the league’s gender eligibility policy. League sources described the move as a “publicity stunt meant to sow division and draw attention.”
White has used his WNBA draft declaration as a policy protest rather than a genuine basketball pursuit. League sources have been unambiguous that neither he nor Kanter Freedom is eligible to play under the WNBA’s current collective bargaining agreement, which restricts the league to women.
Kanter Freedom, for his part, has a long public history of confrontational activism dating back to his NBA career. He clashed publicly with the Chinese government and various political figures.