Jason Lee has become one of the latest public figures to challenge Enes Kanter Freedom’s increasingly confrontational campaign around the WNBA, openly suggesting that US President Donald Trump may be part of the former NBA player’s broader motivation.
Appearing on Michael Porter Jr.’s Curious Mike podcast, Lee said he was less interested in debating Kanter Freedom’s stated position on transgender athletes than in examining how he has treated the women he claims to be supporting.
Enes Kanter Freedom gets kicked out of WNBA game after heated clash with Natasha Cloud
“Watching him mock those women like that… I feel like when I saw him at the game the other night, mocking the players as they were playing, the women that he was playing, I thought he was being a bully,” Lee said. “I thought it was whack. It was weak.”
Lee then questioned whether Kanter Freedom’s tactics actually matched his argument.
“What man goes to a WNBA game and heckles and taunts female players?” Lee asked.
Is Trump part of the equation?
Kanter Freedom has made his opposition to transgender participation in women’s sports a central part of his recent public campaign.
His actions have included a mock declaration for the 2027 WNBA Draft, courtside demonstrations and a heated confrontation with Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud.
Lee said that combination made him question the underlying motive.
“I always wonder, like, what are people’s intentions, right?” Lee said. “He just became a citizen… Maybe he’s trying to get some people over here.
“Maybe he’s trying to kiss up to daddy Trump, ’cause that’s Trump’s thing. Maybe he’s trying to prove something to somebody, I don’t know.”
Porter agreed that the former NBA center’s behavior appeared inconsistent with an effort to protect WNBA players.
“If he’s trying to protect the WNBA and the sport of women playing against women, and he’s doing it by an extreme way, then why is he going and getting into it with them and kind of bullying them, right?” Porter said.
WNBA fight moves beyond social media
The dispute intensified after Kanter Freedom was removed from an August 23 game between Chicago and Indiana following his exchange with Cloud.
The Sky subsequently banned him from the arena, and Kanter Freedom has since filed a federal lawsuit against the franchise, the city of Chicago and arena management, alleging violations of his First Amendment rights.
Lee argued that Kanter Freedom could be using his platform in very different ways if supporting WNBA players were truly the priority.
“You can have an opinion about trans women not participating in female sports,” Lee said. “But when you start attacking the very people you’re acting like you’re an ally to, you’re not aligned with them in their cause.”
He also questioned why Kanter Freedom wasn’t focusing on issues such as player salaries, sponsorship opportunities and growing the league.
“Why are you not advocating for higher pay? Why are you not advocating for better brand deals?” Lee said. “You’re just being an a**hole. You’re just being a bully.”
Porter reached a similar conclusion, saying the spectacle “almost kind of seems like it’s for attention.”
That’s now the question hanging over Kanter Freedom’s campaign: whether the controversy is primarily about policy, publicity, politics, or some combination of all three.