Who is Enes Kanter, the man jumping into the WNBA transgender debate?

Enes Kanter Freedom is a man who says he should be eligible to play in the WNBA.

WNBA rules state simply that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA.” They do not clarify if transgender women are eligible, but the league’s commissioner stated in a memo that leaders will discuss the topic this week.

Freedom, a retired NBA player, declared his intent to enter the 2027 WNBA draft in two social media videos posted on Friday. Another former NBA player, Royce White, followed Freedom’s lead.

White is on Tuesday’s Republican primary ballot for one of Minnesota’s seats in the U.S. Senate. He failed to win a nomination in 2022 for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2024, he earned the Republican nomination for a U.S. Senate seat, but lost to Amy Klobuchar in the general election, 56.2% to 40.5%.

“I’m transgender,” White told Fox News. “I identify, sometimes, as a woman, for purposes of basketball. I think I’d be unstoppable.

Freedom is a multifaceted human rights advocate who believes his NBA career ended early because of his activism.

Freedom was born Enes Kanter in Zürich, Switzerland, on May 20, 1992. His parents were Kurdish immigrants from Türkiye, and they returned to that country when he was small.

He moved to the United States in high school. The NCAA ruled him ineligible for college basketball because a Turkish professional team gave him about $33,000 in benefits when he played nine games for it as a teenager.

<

The Utah Jazz selected him with the third pick in the first round of the 2011 NBA draft. He played three seasons for the team before Utah traded him to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the middle of his fourth year.

He played parts of seven more seasons with Oklahoma City, New York, Portland and Boston. He was known as an outstanding rebounder.

He was exiled from his home country for much of his playing career for his political opposition.

Freedom was 29 when Boston traded him to Houston, which waived him, ending his NBA career. He has characterized what he believes is a premature end to his playing years as a personal sacrifice.

He believes his positions cost him $50 million in future NBA salary.

Freedom condemned human rights abuses in Turkey while a player. The country’s leaders responded by canceling his passport and issued warrants for his arrest. When Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, arrested Freedom’s father for alleged terrorism, Freedom called Erdogan the “Hitler of our century.” Freedom hasn’t been back to Turkey since 2015.

Freedom claimed the NBA eventually blackballed him for speaking out against alleged abuses of the Uyghurs in China, according to a New York Times profile.

He also wore what came to be known as Freedom shoes during games. He wrote activist messages on the shoes.

He also criticized Michael Jordan and LeBron James for doing business with Nike, which has deep ties to China, the New York Times reported.

Freedom was nominated for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize by a member of Norway’s parliament. The nomination recognized his global humanitarian work and outspoken activism against human rights abuses in Turkey and China.

Freedom became a U.S. citizen in 2021.

<

Former NBA star Enes Kanter speaks at IRF Summit 2026 at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. | Matt Ryb Pictures

Freedom has been honored many times for his activism.

• Geneva Summit Courage Award (2022) from a coalition of 25 nongovernmental organizations for risking his career to protest global oppression.

• Lantos Human Rights Prize (2022) from the Lantos Foundation for defending “fundamental human rights” regardless of personal cost.

• Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent (2022) from the Oslo Freedom Forum for utilizing unique and creative peaceful protest methods.

• Magnitsky Outstanding Human Rights Activist Award (2022) for exposing systemic corruption and corporate complicity in human rights violations.

• SAR Gold Good Citizenship Medal (2024) from the Sons of the American Revolution for speaking out on behalf of oppressed minorities.

Geneva Summit Courage Award (2022) from a coalition of 25 nongovernmental organizations for risking his career to protest global oppression.

Lantos Human Rights Prize (2022) from the Lantos Foundation for defending “fundamental human rights” regardless of personal cost.

Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent (2022) from the Oslo Freedom Forum for utilizing unique and creative peaceful protest methods.

Magnitsky Outstanding Human Rights Activist Award (2022) for exposing systemic corruption and corporate complicity in human rights violations.

SAR Gold Good Citizenship Medal (2024) from the Sons of the American Revolution for speaking out on behalf of oppressed minorities.

The International Religious Freedom Summit honored him in 2022 with its Civil Society Advocacy Leader Impact Award, also know as the IRF Impact Award. Summit leaders said he was honored for confronting tyranny and advocating for religious freedom and human rights globally.

He spoke out about women’s sports in 2023.

“Men don’t belong in women’s spaces, restrooms, locker rooms, or sports,” Freedom said in an X post then, according to Sports Illustrated. “Since I’m blackballed from the NBA should I put on a wig, identify as a woman and start dominating the WNBA? Is that when the outrage will begin? Is that fair to all the women who spent their whole life chasing their goals? Where are all the Women Rights Activists and Feminists?!”

Freedom deleted that post, but he returned to the issue on Friday.

Talk about transgender women in women’s sports exploded in late July after WNBA player Sophie Cunningham said, “I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”

Her comments sparked rallies and protests.

Kanter’s new posts are callbacks to the one he deleted in 2023.