Overview
- On Aug. 23 Enes Kanter Freedom was ejected from a Chicago Sky game after a verbal exchange with guard Natasha Cloud, and Sky owner Michael Alter later banned him from future home games at Wintrust Arena.
- Kanter has declared for the 2027 WNBA draft and said on Aug. 30–31 that he will drop his challenge only if the league explicitly limits eligibility to “biological females,” and he publicly invited Commissioner Cathy Engelbert to a televised “peace summit.”
- The WNBA's collective bargaining agreement says only “players who are women are eligible to play” but the league has no public policy defining transgender eligibility, and league sources say Kanter and Royce White are not being treated as eligible.
- Players reacted strongly: Natasha Cloud called Kanter “irrelevant” and urged the league to focus on issues affecting women and children while supporting team bans, and veterans including Angel McCoughtry demanded broader bans and stronger protections.
- Any formal change to eligibility would likely require bargaining with the WNBPA and could prompt litigation, and teams have begun partnerships with threat‑monitoring groups to manage safety risks and online extremism directed at players.