Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud had to be held back by security after storming over to confront former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom during the Sky's game against the Indiana Fever at Wintrust Arena on Sunday night. Freedom, who says he has declared for the WNBA Draft, was later escorted out of the building.
In a clip of the incident that quickly went viral, Cloud can be seen shouting at Freedom, who was sitting courtside, before he stood up and held his arms out, appearing to welcome the mid-game confrontation. Security stepped in and pulled Cloud away as her teammates helped move her off, before she returned to the game.
It is not clear what the two shouted at each other before security intervened. Freedom addressed the incident on social media shortly after. "I just got kicked out of a @WNBA game for supporting WOMEN! Let that sink in, AMERICA!" he wrote on X, adding, "It's always women hating on other women."
In a separate video, Freedom was seen arguing with security as he was walked away from his courtside seat, telling them, "This is unacceptable."
Who is Enes Kanter Freedom
Kanter Freedom is 6-foot-10 and spent more than a decade in the NBA, including stints with the Utah Jazz and the New York Knicks. He recently drew attention in women's basketball after saying he wants to play alongside Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark and her teammates.
Earlier in the evening, Freedom was confronted by angry fans as he arrived at Wintrust Arena for the Fever-Sky matchup. He wore a T-shirt printed with a definition of the word "woman" reading, "Woman. Noun. Adult human female," with "woman" and "female" highlighted in red.
He was not welcomed by everyone outside the arena. One fan hurled a homophobic and racial slur at the 34-year-old and told him to leave Chicago, while another shouted an obscenity at him and a third made an obscene gesture in his face as police stood by. "We are getting attacked before the @WNBA game in Chicago," Freedom posted alongside video of the confrontation. Other fans in Chicago greeted him with cheers and high-fives.
Weeks of protests at WNBA games
The confrontation is the latest flashpoint in weeks of protests and counter-protests at WNBA games, which began after Fever guard Sophie Cunningham said she wanted to "protect young girls" from "biological men." On Sunday in Chicago, a "save women's sports party" was held in support of Cunningham and Kanter Freedom, who stopped by to greet fans before heading inside, where he was pictured courtside as Cunningham and Clark faced a rematch against the Sky and DiJonai Carrington.
Cunningham and Carrington had already clashed earlier this month, when Cunningham accused Carrington of "playing" the race "card" after the Sky guard suggested her rival benefited from "white privilege" during an ugly on-court incident. Carrington was ejected from that game after a hard foul left Cunningham bloodied on the floor.
Toward the end of the first quarter of that earlier meeting, Cunningham drove to the basket and was struck in the face by Carrington's arm. Carrington was assessed a flagrant 2 foul and sent to the locker room, with Cunningham and Clark waving as she left the court. Minutes later, Carrington posted on social media, "WHITE PRIVILEGE @indianafever," touching off another round of controversy around the league.
Cloud's earlier comments on fan behavior
Cloud made headlines of her own recently after criticizing a string of incidents in which fans have thrown sex toys onto the court during WNBA games. Speaking to reporters after Chicago's win over the Golden State Valkyries on Friday, Cloud said the behavior, mostly by men, reflected badly on those responsible rather than the players.
She said it was "the gayest thing" someone could do to buy a sex toy at a store and throw it onto the court during a women's game, and called the people doing it "extremely weak." Cloud said such actions said more about "the internal struggles of that individual" than about the players or fans they were targeting.
"Y'all lame as [expletive] to us. Y'all gay to us and we see it," Cloud told reporters, adding that anyone struggling with their own identity should feel free to come out rather than act out at games. She closed by questioning how the fans involved explained the purchases to their families, joking about the conversations they might have to have with a financial advisor over the charges on their credit card statements.
