Former NBA center Enes Kanter Freedom is openly campaigning to become the next WNBA commissioner, casting himself as the candidate who would MAKE WNBA FEMALE AGAIN and restore what he calls basic fairness in womens sports.
According to Gateway Pundit, Freedom launched his bid after the league announced that current commissioner Cathy Engelbert will retire at the end of the 2026 season, releasing a video and written statement that directly challenge the WNBAs handling of gender and eligibility rules. In his message, he declared, Commissioner Freedom Has a Nice Ring to It, and argued that while the reported retirement of #WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is a win for women and an admission that the leagues rules must change, her retirement does not solve the systemic issues which must be addressed in order to protect womens sports.
Freedom framed his offer to lead the league as a direct response to what he views as ideological confusion over biological sex, stating, If the WNBA is unable to define what a woman is, then I, Enes Kanter Freedom, would be more than happy to step in as commissioner and lead this league back to greatness and restore fairness for all women. He added that under his leadership, Ill bring common sense. Ill bring fairness. And yes, Ill bring a dictionary.
His campaign follows months of public pressure on the WNBA to clarify whether biological men will be permitted to compete on womens teams, a question league officials have repeatedly sidestepped. Freedom and former NBA player Royce White both declared for the 2027 WNBA draft under the same self-identification logic embraced by progressive activists, only to be ruled ineligible by the league as engaging in a publicity stunt, without any clear statement on the status of transgender-identifying males.
The leagues collective bargaining agreement currently requires that players be women, yet it notably fails to define what woman means in the context of transgender policies. That ambiguity has fueled growing concern among female athletes and conservative advocates who argue that womens sports are being sacrificed to gender ideology rather than protected as distinct competitive categories.
In August, Freedom escalated his protest by sitting courtside at Wintrust Arena wearing a shirt reading, WOMAN noun. adult human female, where he loudly supported Phoenix Mercury guard Sophie Cunningham and was ultimately ejected from the game. His removal followed an on-court confrontation in which Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud left the floor to scream at him and later proclaimed on social media that every trans-identifying person is in her tribe, a stance backed by Sky coach Tyler Marsh.
As Gateway Pundit previously reported, Freedom responded by demanding a formal review from Engelbert, answers on alleged viewpoint discrimination, and a refund for his ticket, then filed suit against the Chicago Sky organization, the city of Chicago, and the arena authority. With Engelberts departure now scheduled and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver praising her tenure while the WNBA Board of Governors prepares to select her successor, Freedoms bid highlights a stark choice for the league: double down on progressive gender politics, or adopt the clear, biology-based standards he insists are necessary to lead this league back to greatness and restore fairness for all women.
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