CHICAGO — Former NBA center Enes Kanter has been latching onto the transphobia grift sweeping through right wing discourse around the WNBA. On Sunday, Kanter sat courtside at the Indiana Fever at Chicago Sky game wearing a t-shirt with the dictionary definition of a woman.
Kanter didn’t show up to watch a basketball game. He wanted to cause trouble, and he got his opportunity late in the third quarter after Sky guard Natasha Cloud drove and scored on Caitlin Clark.
Kanter began barking at Cloud, and was quickly ejected by the security team at Wintrust Arena. Watch a video of the interaction between Kanter and Cloud here:
Kanter had previously stated that he would enter the WNBA Draft as a trans woman. Fever reserve forward Sophie Cunningham started a firestorm with her comments on the potential for trans athletes to play in the WNBA last month to ESPN. There is not a trans athlete trying to play in the league, but that hasn’t stopped it from devolving into a circus in recent weeks.
Kanter was escorted by security out of arena after the ejection.
Cloud had a viral quote on people throwing sex toys on the floor at WNBA games earlier this week.
Kanter showed up to the game with bad intentions. He was only looking to cause trouble, and he did it.
Cunningham’s comments have caused a huge ongoing distraction around the WNBA. This isn’t about supporting women in sports — it’s about using the league’s popularity to amplify transphobia. It’s a failure that Kanter was even allowed into the building.
We’ll update this story as it develops.
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