Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom isn’t endearing himself to many WNBA players with his anti-trans stunts — least of all Los Angeles Sparks forward Cameron Brink.
“I don’t even know what the f*** his name is,” Brink, 24, told The Mirror’s Jarrod Castillo in a video posted via Threads on Wednesday, August 26. “Enes Kanter. He’s a stupid piece of s***, and I think a lot of people think that. I think he’s just trying to stay relevant.”
Freedom, 34, made headlines earlier this month by declaring for the WNBA Draft in an effort to force the league to clarify its eligibility standards regarding trans athletes. (Freedom is not trans, and there are no trans athletes in the WNBA or in position to play in the league in the near future.)
The former Oklahoma City Thunder center then got into a verbal altercation with the Chicago Sky’s Natasha Cloud during a game on Sunday, August 23, while he was sitting courtside and wearing a shirt that read, “WOMAN noun. adult human female.” He was ejected from the arena and later banned indefinitely.
While trans athletes in sports is a nuanced topic, Brink objected to what she views as critics using it to target a marginalized community.
“I mean, that’s, like, such a big question,” she said on Wednesday. “For me, personally, I think when it comes to the trans issues that I believe you’re talking about, I think it’s a nonissue, and I think it’s people trying to just come for the trans community. I just don’t stand for that.”
She continued, “It’s great that we can all talk about things that are important and hard, and you can have your opinions on that. But I think taking something that’s a nonissue right now and just trying to use it for clickbait, for views, for likes and then targeting a vulnerable community is just really low.”
The WNBA brushed Freedom’s antics aside, calling them “publicity stunts” in a statement to Front Office Sports on Monday, August 24.
The league said it was “not going to give oxygen to efforts designed to mock the league or use this topic to demean and marginalize others.”
Freedom later released a letter to the WNBA in which he argued he had been treated unfairly at the Sky game.
“I should not be treated differently because the League, its players, or personnel disagree with my viewpoint,” he wrote. “The timing and circumstances of my removal beg a variety of questions: Did my WNBA Draft announcement, prior communications with the League, public advocacy for women’s sports, or the message displayed on my shirt play a role in the decision to eject me?”
A source told FOS that league officials would discuss its eligibility rules but “will not allow outside pressure or manufactured controversy to dictate league processes.”
The WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement states that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA.” It does not, however, include clarity on gender identity or sex assigned at birth.
