Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom has offered to take over as WNBA Commissioner after Cathy Engelbert stepped down.
After the WNBA announced that Engelbert will retire at the end of the 2026 season, Freedom posted a video campaigning for the job.
Freedom wrote:
MAKE WNBA FEMALE AGAIN
Commissioner Freedom Has a Nice Ring to It.
While the reported retirement of #WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is a win for women and an admission that the league’s rules must change, her retirement does not solve the systemic issues which must be addressed in order to protect women’s sports.
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.
I’ll bring common sense.
I’ll bring fairness.
And yes, I’ll bring a dictionary.
WATCH:
MAKE @WNBA FEMALE AGAIN
Commissioner Freedom Has a Nice Ring to It.
While the reported retirement of #WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is a win for women and an admission that the league’s rules must change, her retirement does not solve the systemic issues which must be… pic.twitter.com/QqIQ3bwKsX
— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) September 4, 2026
Freedom has been on a crusade to force the league to say out loud whether or not it will allow biological men to play on women’s teams. He and Royce White declared for the 2027 draft under the same self-ID logic players and coaches have endorsed, and the WNBA ruled them ineligible as a “publicity stunt” without clarifying if transgender men will be allowed.
After careful consideration and reviewing the current eligibility guidelines,
I’m officially declaring myself a @WNBA prospect.If simply declaring who you are is all that’s required, then I meet every single requirement necessary to compete in the WNBA.
My team and I have… pic.twitter.com/msncUZUT1J
— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) August 7, 2026
The collective bargaining agreement says players must be women but does not define what that means for transgender players.
In August, Freedom sat courtside at Wintrust Arena in a shirt that read “WOMAN noun. adult human female,” cheered a Sophie Cunningham three, and was ejected after Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud left the floor, screamed at him, and later posted that every trans person is in her “tribe.”
Sky coach Tyler Marsh backed Cloud.
As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, Freedom demanded a review, viewpoint-discrimination answers, and a ticket refund from Engelbert, then sued the Sky, the city of Chicago, and the arena authority.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who praised Engelbert’s tenure, and the WNBA Board of Governors will choose the next commissioner.
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