Cheryl Reeve’s latest comments on transgender athletes have drawn a strong and pointed response from former NBA center Enes Kanter Freedom, who went as far as calling for the Minnesota Lynx head coach to step down. However, that’s not the only thing the former Boston Celtics player has done.
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Speaking in a postgame press conference following the Lynx’s final regular-season game, Reeve described her support for the transgender community as one of the most meaningful parts of her 2026 season. Enes Kanter Freedom, however, took a very different view, accusing Reeve of failing to stand up for women’s sports.
“Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve should step down immediately,” Kanter wrote on X, reacting to her statement. “You can’t lead women’s basketball while refusing to stand up for women’s sports.”
The context behind Reeve’s postgame statement is important. She had been informed during the press conference that A Bar of Their Own, a women’s sports bar in Minneapolis, had distributed free posters in support of transgender athletes, with Reeve’s name included as a supporter of the community. That prompted her to speak.
“I think that’s probably one of the more meaningful things that would mark the season for me is that the transgender community is one that deserves our support.”
“And what is happening in the name of some issue of transgenders in sport, it’s really an attack on all transgender community. They don’t want transgender people to exist.”
However, Enes Kanter Freedom didn’t agree with the Minnesota Lynx head coach’s take.
“Can someone, for the love of God, please explain to her that protecting women’s sports is not an attack on anyone’s existence, nor does it erase a community?” he added while challenging the Reeve.
“Coach, if you truly mean what you just said, then put your hypocrisy aside and prove it by drafting me in the 2027 WNBA Draft.”
Enes Kanter Freedom has repeatedly and publicly championed Cunningham’s position that biological males should not compete in women’s sports. But he has chosen a rather unconventional method of making that argument, announcing that he himself now identifies as a transgender woman and formally declaring for the 2027 WNBA Draft.
It was Freedom’s way of coming out in support of Sophie Cunningham’s statement that started the entire debate on transgender athletes.
That debate started with Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, who, in an ESPN profile, had voiced her opposition to transgender athletes competing in women’s sports, stating that she wanted to “protect young girls.” The statement sparked a cascade of reactions, rallies, and counter-rallies.
In fact, Freedom wasn’t the only male basketball player to declare their eligibility for the upcoming 2027 WNBA Draft. Former NBA player Royce White also announced that he intended to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft after saying he identifies as a woman.
Then in August, Freedom claimed that he had spoken with several other male basketball players who were ready to issue similar declarations if the league didn’t define the word “woman” in their CBA.
Meanwhile, Reeve herself referenced the game against the Indiana Fever on August 2 and the reaction she received for supporting the other side of Cunningham’s viewpoint.
“The amount of people that were affected by something as simple as wearing a T-shirt in support of them and helping them be seen with the platform we have in professional sports, it was a small gesture for me. It’s something I believe in, obviously, wholeheartedly.”
During that game, Reeve wore a light blue T-shirt reading “Trans Kids Belong.” Interestingly, it was during the pre-game warm-up of that game where Reeve and Cunningham shared a respectful and amicable conversation.
The conversation surrounding gender, inclusion, and women’s sports in the WNBA has now gone on for a large part of the ongoing WNBA season. And it’s safe to say that one key individual responsible for that sustained conversation has been Enes Kanter Freedom.