WNBA antagonist denied entry to finals game after refusing to sit in private suite
Showing that his trolling game is in postseason form, former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom tried to take in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals on Wednesday night.
He never made it to his seat.
Freedom, an outspoken opponent of transgender athletes competing in women’s sports, was denied entry to State Farm Arena in Atlanta after refusing to watch the game from a private suite that the team had arranged in response to his concerns about his safety.
Freedom had purchased seats for the game and insisted on sitting in them. Video he posted to social media showed an arena official telling him he could enter State Farm Arena only if he agreed to watch from the suite, where additional security had been arranged.
“I purchased tickets, right?” Freedom said. “I would like to sit in my seat. That’s all I want.”
Freedom eventually left the arena and portrayed the episode as an attempt to silence his views. “I just got kicked out of a @WNBA game for the second time in a row for supporting WOMEN!” he wrote on X. “Let that sink in, AMERICA!”
Before the game, State Farm Arena said Freedom had contacted federal, state and local authorities, as well as the WNBA, Atlanta Dream and arena officials, to express concerns about his safety. Officials said the suite was intended to address those concerns and provide “a safe and positive experience” for Freedom and other fans.
The former NBA center has made transgender participation in women’s sports a public cause. Freedom and former NBA player Royce White have sought to provoke the league by declaring themselves women and candidates for the WNBA draft, part of a campaign challenging the league’s policies on transgender athletes.
Wednesday marked Freedom’s second confrontation at a WNBA game in recent months. He was ejected from a Chicago Sky game in August following a verbal exchange with guard Natasha Cloud and was later banned from the team’s arena.
He has not shied away from the attention his campaign has invited. Freedom appeared with Dennis Rodman at a Trump rally in Oklahoma earlier this month, where the president called him out from the stage and joked about Freedom’s purported plans to play in the WNBA.
With Freedom left outside the arena — and far from the cameras — the Dream defeated the Valkyries, 97-71, to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven WNBA Finals.