Enes Kanter was ejected and subsequently banned from the Chicago Sky’s home games at Wintrust Arena. While the league was expected to eventually ban the former NBA player from future WNBA games, he didn’t receive the ban. However, according to The Athletic’s WNBA analyst, Sabreena Merchant, this was a missed opportunity for the league to ban Kanter from attending further WNBA games.
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“It is worth noting that even though the Sky has banned this individual from Wintrust Arena, there is no league-wide ban on Enes Kanter Freedom attending WNBA games, which seems like a missed opportunity,” Merchant said on The Athletic’s ‘No Offseason’ podcast. “If one team deems it not worth it for him to attend, then I would imagine the rest of the league could just follow suit.”
Even though Kanter’s activities on social media and his verbal altercation would not have amounted to his ejection from the arena. However, his offense went beyond that on Sunday. When Natasha Cloud started yelling and pointing at Kanter during the third-quarter timeout, he rose from his seat and started walking towards the court.
According to The Athletic’s senior WNBA writer Annie Costabile, Kanter stepped over photographers and went very close to the baseline. After that point, Kanter was decisively ejected, and the decision was unanimous.
“It was a unanimous decision that was made that he needed to be ejected,” Costabile said.
The seeds of the Enes Kanter drama go back to Sophie Cunningham’s viral interview with ESPN last month. In her July 21 interview, Cunningham said that young girls in sports “shouldn’t have to go against biological men.” This triggered debate about trans athlete participation in women’s sports. Cunningham was met with protests outside the arenas during the Fever games. Right when it seemed like the conversation would eventually die down, Kanter jumped in.
Earlier this month, Kanter sensationalized the issue by claiming that he was planning to put his name in the WNBA 2027 draft pool because he identified as a woman. Kanter claimed that since the word ” women ” was unclear in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, he was also eligible to play in the league. On Aug. 8, he wrote a letter to the WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, declaring his eligibility and age to enter the draft.
Former NBA player Royce White followed Kanter’s step and also declared for the 2027 WNBA draft. Kanter later claimed that he had spoken to several other former NBA players and G-League players who were ready to join him.
He upped the tension after announcing that he would attend the Sky-Fever game at Wintrust Arena. He took a seat a few rows behind the baseline, rocking a T-shirt that read “WOMAN noun. adult human female.” His visit ended with an ejection following the altercation with Cloud.
The former Portland Trail Blazers player later posted on X that he “got kicked out of a @WNBA game for supporting WOMEN.”
The league had a strong argument if it wanted to ban Kanter from attending any game, but refrained from doing that. However, Sky owner Michael Alter said Kanter “made himself into a threat” while announcing the ban from Sky’s home games.
“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,” Alter told reporters.
Alter stated that “unless sometime in the future [Kanter] is able to prove to us to our satisfaction that he is able to abide by our rules without being a potential threat,” the team wouldn’t lift the ban.
However, for Kanter, it’s the Indiana Fever he is more interested in, which he also claimed was his favorite team. He has said that he is planning to attend all of the Fever games in the remaining season. The Sky have two remaining home games this season. They haven’t qualified for the playoffs.