Enes Kanter Freedom has kept himself in the WNBA spotlight ever since declaring his intentions to enter the 2027 WNBA draft. The latest addition to the controversy came when he was ejected from the Chicago Sky’s Wintrust Arena during their game against the Indiana Fever after a confrontation with Natasha Cloud. Now Freedom has put the ball in league commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s court, sending a letter demanding answers to five specific questions after the Sky banned him from the arena.
WNBA reporter Jon Root shared the news on X on August 26: “BREAKING: Enes Kanter Freedom has sent a letter to WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert requesting answers to 5 questions after his ejection from the Fever vs Sky Game & ban from the arena.”
Per Root and the letter’s own text, the five asks are: identify the specific policy under which he was removed for “expressing a viewpoint that appears unpopular with the WNBA”; explain the league’s apparent selective enforcement; confirm whether Natasha Cloud’s conduct will be reviewed under any league policy; preserve all video and communications related to the incident; and issue a full refund of his courtside tickets.
“The WNBA’s pattern of viewpoint discrimination against those, like me, who advocate for the protection of women and integrity of women’s sports has created a real and substantial conflict that must be addressed,” Freedom wrote in his letter, giving the league five business days to respond in writing.
Alter has defended the ejection publicly, saying, “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.”
He’s also said Freedom spent the third quarter “chirping” at Cloud in what he believed was a deliberate attempt to provoke her. Meanwhile, the former NBA player argued that it was Cloud who approached him and “began yelling, cursing, and pointing” in his direction.
Freedom escalated matters further in a separate Fox News interview, floating a lawsuit. “So we might be looking into a lawsuit for sure, because this is unacceptable, and this is not what sportsmanship looks like,” he said.
“We wrote to, you know, the commissioner and the task force. We are waiting for them to hear back, but this is just unacceptable.”
That said, the Indiana Fever have no games left in Chicago this season. The regular season wraps up September 24, and the Sky have already been eliminated from playoff contention. Because the Fever have no remaining games in Chicago, the ban won’t keep Freedom from attending another Fever game at Wintrust Arena this season.
As of publication, neither the Sky nor the WNBA have responded to Freedom’s letter.