Enes Kanter Freedom met by hostile crowd outside Wintrust Arena before Fever-Sky

Former NBA center Enes Kanter Freedom was surrounded by a hostile crowd outside Chicago's Wintrust Arena on Sunday before the sold-out Indiana Fever–Chicago Sky matchup, posting video of security shielding the 6-foot-10 veteran as spectators swarmed.

Freedom arrived for the game wearing a shirt printed with the definition of "woman," a direct reference to the league's unsettled gender-eligibility rules that he has spent the past month challenging.

In video posted to social media, Freedom captioned the scene: "We are getting attacked before the @WNBA game in Chicago." One fan walked up and flipped him off; another mocked his career by shouting, "You were sorry in the league!"

The taunt is one Freedom can absorb after more than 700 NBA games, but the confrontation underscored the reaction he has drawn since formally declaring for the 2027 WNBA Draft earlier this month.

Freedom's declaration is a challenge to Article XIII of the league's collective bargaining agreement, which states that only women are eligible to play. He argues the WNBA has not explained how it would enforce that rule.

"By their rules," Freedom told former Auburn coach Bruce Pearl in his first interview after declaring, if he steps on the court and identifies as a woman, he is allowed to play. "I'm not breaking any rules here. I know the rules really well."

He went on to sketch a scenario in which Caitlin Clark tosses lobs to him as a "modern Kobe and Shaq," adding they could chest-bump afterward because "I am now a woman."

Former NBA player Royce White has since declared for the 2027 WNBA Draft as well, and Freedom said he has spoken with other male basketball players about following suit. The WNBA has held meetings on who qualifies as a woman in its league but has not provided a clear public answer.

Freedom has said he effectively lost his NBA career after calling out human rights abuses by the Chinese Communist Party and exposing what he describes as corporate hypocrisy in professional basketball. He frames his current campaign as defense of female athletes.

The hostility outside Wintrust Arena showed that the question he is forcing the league to confront — whether its own eligibility language can withstand declared male entrants — is not receding from view.

Reporting by OutKick via Fox News. The New-England Courant verified the key details of this account against the original report and added context on the league eligibility dispute. Read the original report: OutKick's account of the incident.