Enes Freedom
Turkish-American former basketball player and human rights activistWikipedia
1.4k
MENTIONS
604
EPISODES
393
PODCASTS
Search complete. 1413 mentions across 604 episodes found for "Enes Freedom".
Sep 10, 2026
Sabrina MerchantGUEST
But then there's also all of these things happening off the court that continue to permeate the discourse.
Sabrina MerchantGUEST
Uh, on September third, former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom said that he was suing the Chicago Sky for violating his First Amendment rights, uh, by ejecting him from a game at Wintrust Arena and then subsequently banning him from that arena because he stepped onto the court.
Sam FragosoGUEST
Mm-hmm.
Sabrina MerchantGUEST
Uh, and so things like this that just continue to make their way into the WNBA and detract from all of the basketball that is being played is just this constant push and pull that the WNBA hasn't quite figured out how to navigate.
Sam FragosoGUEST
I would say this season has had a few different flashpoints.
Sam FragosoGUEST
One of them is this game between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky in August.
Sam FragosoGUEST
Uh, you referenced Enes Kanter Freedom.
Sam FragosoGUEST
He is a former NBA player who made upwards of one hundred million dollars, uh, before retiring with the Celtics, where he averaged, in his final season, four points and three rebounds.
Shawn FarashHOST
They are sending death threats to people like Nick Shirley.
Shawn FarashHOST
Enes Kanter, yes, the basketball player.
Shawn FarashHOST
We have been a target of violent left-wing extremism.
Shawn FarashHOST
As you know, in March of 2025, we were swatted back at our home.
Chad LawHOST
Two former NBA players have formally declared themselves eligible for the twenty twenty-seven WNBA draft.
Chad LawHOST
The first is Enes Kanter Freedom.
Chad LawHOST
The second is a man named Royce White." And I wanna read you Roloff's description of Royce White's basketball career because she does more damage in one clause than I could in ten minutes.
Chad LawHOST
She writes that he played in three games of a single NBA season more than ten years ago.
Imani GandyHOST
But you sure as hell can build a movement around her.
Imani GandyHOST
Which brings me to Enes Kanter Freedom, a former NBA center who decided to show everybody how this particular mechanism works.
Imani GandyHOST
He and Royce White, Royce is a former NBA first round pick who says he's planning to run for president as a Republican.
Imani GandyHOST
They both declared for the 2027 WNBA draft.
Imani GandyHOST
Their theory, the league's labor agreement says only women can play, but the labor agreement never defines what a woman is.
Imani GandyHOST
So just declaring you're a woman is enough.
Imani GandyHOST
Now, League sources say that neither man is eligible, but neither of them actually wants to play, right? And Enes Kanter Freedom told on himself.
Imani GandyHOST
Here's what he told the New York Post.
Sam SteinHOST
Um-But like that's it, that's all they're talking about.
Will SommerGUEST
Yeah, I mean, and you know, we, we, we saw that as well with the, the Enes Kanter attempts to join the WNBA.
Will SommerGUEST
There's this real kind of like midterm push just to talk about like trans pe- people playing sports as like the big, you know, can we get this back in the headlines somehow? You know, make people think Dem- I mean, I think it's pretty clear Democrats have kind of retreated on this issue, and I think it's probably much to Republicans' chagrin, uh, and so now they're, they're really trying to bring it back up.
Sam SteinHOST
And it's like, well, I, I guess, uh, if I'm a voter in Ohio, and maybe it works, it worked last time, but am I like, "Okay, yeah, like Sherrod Brown's gonna be a senator and Donald Trump will still be president, therefore, what? Like we'll just like, you know, pass f- you know, laws just absolutely expanding trans rights everywhere?" I mean, that's not gonna happen.
RandomHOST
Those that don't agree support what?
RiddellHOST
Enes Kanter.
MilesHOST
Yo.
MilesHOST
[laughs] I stand with Enes.
MilesHOST
I stand with Enes and Royce White and all of, and all of the strong, heroic women that are fighting some- for, for something greater than themselves.
RiddellHOST
Yo, Kent, you trying to force us, force us [laughs] to say, bro, do, do I wanna side with Enes Kanter-
MilesHOST
There ain't no way you're fighting Enes, Enes Kanter as your, as your weapon, bro
RiddellHOST
... or do I wanna praise Yusuke? Honestly, this is-
Shawn FarashHOST
Running.
Shawn FarashHOST
In which case, in the garage about a few hours ago, I was a white supremacist because I went for a jog.
Shawn FarashHOST
Was it from Anchorman? Yeah, where is mine?
Angela DavisSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Hold on.
Rob CarsonHOST
Uh, Mike Johnson, House Speaker, actually, um, uh, did the, uh, the tour and invited a bunch of influencers, uh, some f- folks from TPUSA and, and, uh, and other folks that you'd know.
Rob CarsonHOST
Uh, uh, Enes Kanter Freedom, hung out with him, sat at the same dinner table with him.
Rob CarsonHOST
Had a great time talking to old Enes.
Rob CarsonHOST
He's a pretty cool dude.
Michael BabcockHOST
She is out.
Michael BabcockHOST
Now, she did I think a lot of good things for the league, but you cannot deny that there has been a ton of controversy, and none bigger than this whole thing with Enes Kanter.
Michael BabcockHOST
I've got...
Michael BabcockHOST
I mean, let's be real here, right? This is...
LucasPANELIST
... help you figure out how to get these, uh, these issues like settled.
Michael BabcockHOST
Yeah.
LucasPANELIST
'Cause Enes Kanter, completely avoidable.
TawandaPANELIST
[laughs]
Simon FitzgeraldHOST
And I want to get to how that has become a circus in the WNBA this year.
Simon FitzgeraldHOST
And I think the jester in this court has got to be Enes Kanter, who I think is telling on himself in a lot of ways by playing the part of, like you said, someone who's not good enough to play professional men's basketball, who's a man, who is now pretending... to make this an issue where he's going to say it's a discrimination if he's not allowed to play in the WNBA.
Simon FitzgeraldHOST
And there was, in fact, a confrontation, right, at an Indiana Fever Chicago Sky game, even though Angel Reese no longer plays on the Sky.
Simon FitzgeraldHOST
That's a whole other topic.
594 more episodes mention Enes Freedom.
Create an account to see the whole feed, search across every transcript, and follow the entities you care about.