Enes Kanter Freedom Texted With Sophie Cunningham After He Was Booted From WNBA Game

Enes Kanter Freedom revealed he texted with WNBA star Sophie Cunningham right after he was kicked out of a recent game she was playing in, with the former NBA player telling Fox News on Saturday she had a simple question: “What happened?”

Cunningham was apparently just as confused as everyone else at first, following Kanter’s ejection from the Chicago Sky-Indiana Fever game on August 23.

He was booted after Chicago player Natasha Cloud scored a bucket and started yelling at pointing at Kanter, who was sitting courtside in a shirt reading, “WOMAN, noun. Adult human female.”  Kanter stood up, stepped toward the court, and started jawing back at Cloud before security and other players got between them before he was removed from the game — a surreal moment which instantly went viral.

On The Big Weekend Show, fill-in host Riley Gaines asked Kanter if he’s had “any communication” with Cunningham and “what her stance” is on Kanter’s push to join the WNBA.

“I did text her after the game, and she even asked me like, ‘What happened?’ I simply said I got up and open my arms in the air and said, ‘I’m here to protect my friends,'” he said. Kanter did not elaborate on who texted who first, and he did not go into more detail about their conversation.

He continued by praising Cunningham for a moment, though, saying she was “inspiring” young women all over the world.

“She’s standing for the truth… I think she’s an idol now and an American hero,” Kanter said. “I’m just really happy that finally someone from the WNBA got up and said, ‘Enough is enough. We have to stand for American values.'”

Kanter’s removal from the game two weeks ago followed his announcement he was declaring for the WNBA draft in protest of the league’s approach to trans issues.

The league’s bargaining agreement says only women can be drafted, but Freedom and Royce White — another ex-NBA player who declared for the WNBA draft — have called out the WNBA for not defining what a woman. Their announcements spurred the WNBA to put out a statement saying it would not be “used as political pawns.”

This all happened as Cunningham has been at the center of a media frenzy over the last two months, after she told ESPN she did not believe girls and women should play against biological boys and men who have transitioned.

Here is the comment which sparked the whole saga:

“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,’” [Cunningham] says. “I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”

Cunningham’s remark has been both praised and condemned, with some fans rallying in support of her and making her Adidas sneakers a must-have item. Others have criticized her for it, including one opposing coach who took a not-so-subtle shot at Cunningham by wearing a shirt declaring “Trans Kids Belong.”

Things seemed to hit a new level — or low, more accurately — last month when Cunningham was clobbered with a clothesline smack to the head in a nationally broadcast game. The vicious hit did not appear to hurt her vocal chords too much, though, because Cunningham was seen the following week jumping on a bar top and belting out a Toby Keith country tune.

Kanter told Fox News on Saturday he simply wants the WNBA to add the word “biological” in front of “women” in its rules about who is eligible to play.

“I’m not here to hurt women basketball, I’m literally here to just, you know, protect it, in a way,” he said.

Watch above.

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