Chicago Sky Owner Calls Enes Kanter Freedom Lawsuit ‘Meritless And Frivolous’

Chicago Sky owner Michael Alter called the federal lawsuit filed by Enes Kanter Freedom "meritless and frivolous" in a statement the team released Friday, one day after the former NBA center sued over his ejection from a WNBA game at Wintrust Arena.

Freedom filed the suit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Illinois. The complaint names Chicago Women's Basketball Operations, LLC, which operates the Sky, along with the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which owns the arena, and the city of Chicago. Freedom alleges his First Amendment rights were violated when security removed him from the Sky's Aug. 23 game against the Indiana Fever and when the team later banned him from the building.

Alter said the statement would be his last public comment on the matter, on the advice of the team's legal counsel, with anything further coming in court.

"Freedom's claim that he was removed from Wintrust Arena due to his speech is false," Alter said. "As his own complaint acknowledges, he wore the shirt in question for multiple hours without any contact with security. Security removed Freedom only after he violated fan code of conduct by rising from his seat, gesturing at a player, and stepping toward the court."

"Freedom was removed for his conduct, not his speech," Alter continued. "We look forward to the truth prevailing in court."

Freedom, 34, sat along the baseline that night in a black shirt reading "WOMAN noun. adult human female." With 1:22 left in the third quarter, Sky guard Natasha Cloud scored inside and the Fever called timeout. Cloud chest-bumped teammate Aicha Coulibaly, then turned and walked toward Freedom. She yelled and pointed at him as she approached. Freedom stood, held his arms out, and stepped onto the court. Security and several Sky players moved between the two.

Freedom stopped near the basket to argue with security on his way out. He spun around holding his shirt out toward the crowd as he walked to the lobby, spoke with a group of police officers, and left the arena. Indiana won the game 113-90.

Two days after the game, Alter announced the ban in a news conference with Chicago reporters. He said Freedom had started engaging Cloud from his seat in an effort to provoke her. Freedom will be allowed back, Alter said, only after proving to the team's satisfaction that he can follow its rules "without being a potential threat." A Sky spokesperson confirmed the ban is indefinite.

Freedom is seeking damages and the lifting of that ban.

"The Defendants combined and conspired, and acted jointly to execute their conspiracy, to discriminate against Plaintiff based on Plaintiff's verbal and demonstrable expression of viewpoint and gender identity when they wrongfully ejected Plaintiff from a recent WNBA game," the complaint reads. "Defendants compounded and exacerbated Plaintiff's injuries when they subsequently banned Plaintiff indefinitely from attendance."

Cloud, 34, did not speak with reporters after the Aug. 23 game. Before the Sky played the New York Liberty on Aug. 29, she called Freedom an "irrelevant person" and said she would talk instead about domestic violence, sexual assault, and food insecurity.

Freedom and Royce White, another former NBA player, declared for the WNBA draft earlier this summer, saying they identify as women. A person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press that neither is eligible. Front Office Sports reported the league has ruled Freedom ineligible for the 2027 draft.

The league's collective bargaining agreement restricts the WNBA to women. It contains no further language on gender identity or sex assigned at birth. No transgender woman has played in the league.

The day after the ejection, Freedom told ABC News that he and Cloud exchanged words after a Sophie Cunningham 3-pointer, and that Cloud started cursing at him before he was thrown out.

"You don't have to agree with my speech but you don't get to silence me for it," Freedom posted on social media Thursday. "I will not be intimidated. I will not be silenced. I will continue to stand for women and defend free speech."

Freedom played 11 NBA seasons and last appeared in a game in 2022.

The Sky return from the World Cup break Sept. 17 at home against the Washington Mystics. Chicago will be without Skylar Diggins, who was ruled out for the rest of the season with a right knee injury.