It has been over a month since Sophie Cunningham called for protecting young girls in locker rooms. Yet the discourse surrounding her statement has kept the WNBA locked in a conversation it cannot seem to escape. With former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom declaring for the WNBA Draft to challenge its eligibility criteria and even getting into a verbal altercation with one of the league’s players during a game, the controversy has reached a point where Los Angeles Sparks star Cameron Brink has had enough.
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In an interview with The Mirror ahead of her game against Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream on August 24, Brink shared her two cents on the issue while subsequently calling out Freedom.
“I think it’s a non-issue, and I think it’s people trying to just come for the trans community, and I just don’t stand for that,” she said, per an X post by @zavanchy. “I don’t even know what the f*** his name is. Enes Kanter – he’s a stupid piece of s***. And I think a lot of people think that, and I think he’s just trying to stay relevant.”
“I think people are tuned in for the right reasons, and it’s great that we can all talk about things that are important and hard and even have your own opinions on that. But I think taking something that’s a non-issue right now and just trying to use it for clickbait or for views for likes, and then targeting a vulnerable community, is just really low,” she added.
Brink has previously spoken about inclusion and acceptance within the WNBA. Even as a rookie in the league back in 2024, she talked about bringing “more acceptance” to some of her teammates who go by “they/them” pronouns.
There is currently no transgender athlete playing in the league. Yet despite that, the issue has become one of the biggest talking points surrounding the league this season.
It is worth noting that Cunningham’s comments were made during an interview with ESPN away from the court. However, they quickly became a topic of national debate, putting the WNBA in the middle of a conversation that had little to do with what was happening on the court. So even Cunningham herself has since spoken about the need to bring the focus back to basketball.
“The WNBA media, all we ever do is cover everything except basketball,” Cunningham said to reporters earlier this month. “It’s like, ‘What are we doing?’ You can talk about other things; those are great stories; it shows fans who people are outside of the court, but I also think we gotta keep the main thing the main thing.”
“I’m going to let people just do the speaking for themselves, but for me, I want to get back to basketball. It’s always been about basketball,” she further added.
So for Cameron Brink, the answer is to stop giving oxygen to a debate she believes is being amplified despite there currently being no transgender women playing in the WNBA. But Enes Kanter Freedom has no plans to step away from the conversation.
After his ejection from the Chicago Sky’s home game, the former NBA player announced his intention to attend every Indiana Fever playoff game. The Sky subsequently banned him from its home games at Wintrust Arena.