The Chicago Sky walked into Sunday night looking for a win against the Indiana Fever. Instead, their 113-90 loss came with an unexpected scene unfolding along the baseline at Wintrust Arena.
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Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom had arrived at the game with a message of his own, sitting courtside in a black T-shirt that read, “WOMAN noun. adult human female.” By the third quarter, that message had become part of a heated exchange involving Sky guard Natasha Cloud.
With 1:22 left in the third quarter, Cloud walked toward Kanter Freedom’s baseline seat after scoring and began shouting and pointing at him. Kanter stood up and stepped onto the court boundary, prompting a game official to signal for security. He was then escorted away from his seat. The incident drew the attention of Indiana Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith, who later wrote on X, “I was appalled by what happened during the Indiana Fever game last night. Chicago’s Natasha Cloud threatened former NBA player and future WNBA first-round pick Enes Kanter. There is simply no place for this type of woman-on-woman violence in our society and it needs to stop.”
Kanter Freedom quickly gave his own account of the incident on X, writing, “I just got kicked out of a @WNBA game for supporting WOMEN! Let that sink in, AMERICA.”
Kanter Freedom’s presence at the game came amid an ongoing controversy involving Fever guard Sophie Cunningham. Before taking his baseline seat, he attended a demonstration outside Wintrust Arena supporting Cunningham and had publicly backed her position on gender eligibility in women’s sports.
There was no physical contact between Cloud and Kanter Freedom, and the broadcast audio does not independently verify the words exchanged between them. Kanter later claimed Cloud told him, “She’s not gonna sleep with you,” before he responded, “I am not trying to sleep with her. I’m just here to protect women and support her.”
Natasha Cloud and Enes Kanter Freedom Give Their Accounts
Cloud did not address the confrontation directly in a postgame press conference. Instead, she later posted on Threads: “To every trans kid/person, you are apart of my community & tribe. You belong. You’re loved. You’re seen. You’re perfect as you are. & you will always be protected by me.”
Kanter Freedom offered a much more detailed account in an interview with The Big Lead. “Literally, a couple possessions later, Natasha came back and started screaming and yelling and said, ‘She’s not gonna sleep with you.’ I was like, ‘I am not trying to sleep with her. I’m just here to protect women and support her. And then, obviously, after that she started yapping, and she started to walk towards me.”
He also criticized Cloud’s conduct during the exchange, saying, “She started to use some very heavy language. She started to actually cuss, and I was very shocked… I’m sure she’s loved in Chicago, and many kids are idolizing her and stuff, but that’s not how a WNBA athlete should react.”
Kanter Freedom later added on X, “It’s always women hating on other women.”
Sky head coach Tyler Marsh backed Cloud after the game, saying, “I told her she wasn’t [a distraction]. I told her that we all embrace her as someone that protects our team and protects people that need to be protected and so Tash is always going to stand on that, and we stand for Tash.”
Marsh also addressed Kanter Freedom’s presence at the game, saying, “If you come to a game you should probably come to enjoy the basketball, and that seems pretty simple to me. I think these players deserve that and have earned that. Being a former basketball player, you should probably understand and feel that too.”
The confrontation came amid an ongoing debate surrounding Fever guard Sophie Cunningham. In a July ESPN profile, Cunningham said she wanted to “protect… young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.” Kanter Freedom had publicly supported Cunningham’s position and attended the demonstration outside Wintrust Arena before Sunday’s game.
The available video shows Kanter Freedom standing and placing one foot onto the court boundary before a game official signaled for security. He was then escorted away from the baseline and out of the bowl area. Neither Kanter Freedom nor Cloud received an official in-game technical foul or formal league discipline that night.