Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom is not backing away from his headline-grabbing bid to enter the WNBA, using his first sit-down interview on the league’s transgender athlete debate to outline a bold vision involving Caitlin Clark.
Freedom, a 6ft 10in center who spent 11 seasons in the NBA, said earlier this month that he intends to put his name forward for the WNBA Draft, a move that has intensified an already heated national conversation about transgender participation in women’s sports.
The former basketball standout, who is said to have sent a provocative letter to WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, has faced sharp backlash from critics who view his plan as inflammatory and divisive.
Still, Freedom has leaned further into the controversy, even naming the WNBA franchise he would most like to join if his long-shot draft push ever became reality.
He made the comments during a high-profile interview with former Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl for the America First Policy Institute, which was released Friday.
In a clip from the town hall-style discussion, Freedom appeared in an orange hoodie emblazoned with the phrase “Let Freedom Play” and strongly suggested he has his sights set on the Indiana Fever, the team led by WNBA sensation Caitlin Clark.
Enes Kanter Freedom (left) suggested he and Caitlin Clark (right) could form a “Kobe and Shaq” partnership as he continued to defend his push to join the WNBA
The former NBA center has said he plans to formally declare for the 2027 WNBA Draft
A bemused Pearl scoffed at the claim, questioning whether Freedom would even make the Fever’s roster, which also boasts Kelsey Mitchell, Aliyah Boston and Sophie Cunningham.
Freedom brushed off the dig from Pearl, declaring that he and Clark could be the ‘modern day Kobe and Shaq,’ referring to Lakers legends Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.
‘Think about this… We’re going down the lane, Caitlin throws me a lob and I cut the lob and dunk the ball,’ he said. ‘Then me and Caitlin bump chests… which I’m allowed to do now, because I’m a woman.’
Freedom also took another provocative jab at commissioner Engelbert by claiming that the WNBA is ‘still trying to figure out what a woman is.’
‘They’re actually having a meeting this week,’ Freedom said. ‘It’s been around for 30 years. So think about how disrespectful that statement to all the players that have played in the league, in their history.’
However, he insisted that his intention was not to mock the league as he urged fans to take his message seriously.
‘What my campaign stands for is different than what any other player is doing,’ he insisted. ‘I have said before, I’m not here to mock, make fun of, or disrespect any group or personal decisions.
‘What I’m doing is bigger than getting clicks and attention. I don’t want this whole thing to turn into a laughing stock. I want people to take our message seriously.’
Freedom has claimed that he has submitted official paperwork in his attempt to join the Draft
The WNBA has been engulfed by controversy after Sophie Cunningham’s comments on the participation of trans athletes in women’s sports
The WNBA has been engulfed by controversy over transgender athletes in recent weeks, after Indiana Fever star Cunningham said she wants to ‘protect young girls’ from ‘biological men.’
Last week, Freedom claimed he had ‘reviewed the current eligibility guidelines’ and planned to move forward with his decision.
The former Knicks and Celtics star updated his followers on Monday afternoon, sharing a provocative letter which he has allegedly sent to WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert about his intentions.
The letter read: ‘Please accept this formal document as my official written notification to the Women’s National Basketball Association of my voluntary decision to enter the player pool for the 2027 WNBA Draft.
‘Consistent with the current league collective bargaining agreement, I am submitting this notice to exercise my draft rights and to affirm that I am at least twenty-two years old and that I have no remaining intercollegiate eligibility, as required by Article XIII, Section 1(b).
‘I request that the WNBA League Office verify receipt of this document and direct any future communications to my personal email address listed above. Thank you for your official processing of my registration into the 2027 draft pool.
‘Respectfully submitted this 6 day of August 2026.’
In an accompanying video, Freedom said: ‘It’s officially official. I just declared for the 2027 WNBA Draft in April. Join me in this journey.’
In a video, Freedom said he ‘meets every single requirement to compete in the WNBA’
Royce White trolled his critics by posing in a wig and celebrating his ‘feminine era’
White became the second former NBA player to declare for next year’s WNBA Draft
Since his statement of intent, another former NBA star, Royce White, has followed suit, also declaring for the WNBA Draft.
The 35-year-old, who only played three games in the NBA for the Sacramento Kings, told Fox News Digital that he is now transgender and wants to join the likes of Clark and Cunningham on the court next season.
White later doubled down by posting a picture of himself wearing a wig on social media.
WNBA general managers and presidents met on Wednesday as part of an anti-hate task force to discuss the subject of athlete eligibility amid the transgender debate.
Despite the uproar, the powers-that-be determined that there were no issues with its eligibility criteria, suggesting that no changes would be made.
The league announced following the meeting that it had ruled that there were ‘no immediate eligibility matters affecting’ the WNBA at this time.
