The Sky banned former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom from attending their games.
Principal owner Michael Alter spoke to local Chicago media to give his account of Sunday’s incident at the Fever game, when Natasha Cloud and Kanter Freedom got into a verbal altercation that ended with Kanter Freedom’s ejection.
Alter’s view, summed up, was this: The Sky are no fans of Kanter Freedom’s, and he’s not welcome back until he can prove to their satisfaction that he will abide by their rules.
Overall, Alter was proud of how security handled the situation. His only regret, he said, was not informing the players ahead of time that Kanter Freedom would be there.
Kanter Freedom mocked the league and the queer community in recent weeks by claiming to be a woman and declaring for the WNBA draft. He showed up at the Fever game Sunday wearing a shirt that defined women by biological sex and later claimed to be supporting his friend, Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, whose profile has risen since she opposed transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.
“It was pretty clear to us that his purpose of coming here was trying to be provocative and see how much attention he could get,” Alter said.
Kanter Freedom went on Fox News Monday to give a very different account: he implied that Sky were happy to have him there, that he was a well-intentioned and well-mannered guest, and that the WNBA hypocritically tossed him out for “supporting women.”
“All that is completely false,” Alter said. “He portrays himself as this victim who did nothing, said nothing, was just wearing a T-shirt that he thought was so cute and provocative, and all the sudden he got thrown out of the game.
“We had five different security authorities all agree very quickly that there was no alternative but to throw him out because he made himself into a threat.”
Alter said the Sky learned Kanter Freedom was coming only a few hours before the game and immediately got arena security, team security and the league involved. The fact that his ticket had not been purchased in his own name was, in Alter’s view, further evidence that he came with bad intentions.
Sky staff members were instructed to ignore Kanter Freedom and not “take the bait.”
According to Alter, everything changed when Kanter Freedom responded to Cloud by standing up from his seat, extending his arms, pointing a finger and taking a step toward the court.
“He went from being a fan, an obnoxious fan but a fan, to being a potential threat,” Alter said.
He also rejected Kanter Freedom’s claim that Cloud’s outburst was entirely unprovoked. He said he interviewed fans seated next to Kanter Freedom who told him the former NBA player had started chirping at Cloud — basketball-related trash talk — in the third quarter. The two went back and forth from there.
Finally, Alter emphasized that Sky general manager Jeff Pagliocca is no fan of Kanter Freedom’s, either.
Kanter Freedom implied that Pagliocca, his former trainer, had welcomed him to the game.
Alter said Kanter Freedom and Pagliocca haven’t spoken in years. Kanter Freedom’s manager was the one who sent Pagliocca an unusual message about attending the game, and Pagliocca simply replied, “Appreciate the text.”
Alter said he’s spoken to Cloud since the incident, but preferred to let her speak for herself when she’s ready.