Enes Kanter Freedom has been banned from the Wintrust Arena. After the former NBA player showed up at the Indiana Fever vs. Chicago Sky game in a shirt emblazoned with the words, “WOMAN noun. adult human female,” and got into a verbal altercation with Natasha Cloud, Freedom was ejected and banned from the Sky’s home. But since then, the 34-year-old has been arguing why he wasn’t given a warning first. And Sky’s principal owner, Michael Alter, has now answered that question with an analogy that might not sit right with many.

“He wasn’t given a warning because certain threats don’t get warnings,” Alter said in an exclusive interview with OutKick, per an X post by Brick Center. “He was given a lot of leeway, as I said – he was sitting there, he was trash-talking her and all that. So he was certainly given leeway. To use an extreme example, when you shoot a gun at someone, you don’t get a warning, ‘Don’t do that again.’ Your action doesn’t deserve a warning. You take action that becomes a threat. You don’t get a warning.”

Freedom has been one of the most vocal figures as the WNBA finds itself in one of its most controversial debates over transgender athletes in women’s sports. He has constantly voiced his support for Sophie Cunningham, who wants to “protect young girls in a locker room,” and even declared for the 2027 WNBA Draft, citing the league’s CBA. But when Enes Kanter Freedom showed up at Wintrust Arena and, according to several reports, “took a step towards the court” during his altercation with Cloud, his actions were deemed a “threat.”

“We had league security, we had arena security, we had Indiana Fever, Chicago Sky security, Chicago Police Department, all of them were there. All of them acted immediately,” Alter added. “All of them, you know, it was the quickest decision I’ve ever seen in someone being ejected from a game.”

Alter has also claimed that several spectators told him Freedom initiated the first verbal interaction that provoked Cloud. Since his ban, however, Freedom has maintained that he did not step onto the court.

“Chicago Sky player Natasha Cloud turned from the court, approached my seat, and began yelling, cursing, and pointing in my direction,” he wrote in a letter he sent to WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert after the incident.

Still, Alter appears to have little doubt about how Freedom’s actions should be viewed. Speaking further in his exclusive interview, the Sky owner questioned whether Freedom’s account of the incident could be trusted.

“I can’t tell you what his intent was beyond his actions. I don’t know what was in his head, OK. Neither do you. And if he tells you what’s his intent based on the other things he’s told you, you have to know he is completely unreliable.”

With both sides continuing to offer very different accounts of what happened during the game, the dispute over Enes Kanter Freedom’s ban is unlikely to end with Alter’s explanation. Freedom has already sent a letter to the league challenging the Sky’s decision, as the controversy keeps finding new ways to stay alive.