Sophie Cunningham Finally Addresses Enes Kanter Freedom’s WNBA Stunt
Sophie Cunningham opened up on this controversy.
Sophie Cunningham finally answered the noise around Enes Kanter Freedom. She did not join the campaign or scold it. Instead, she stepped around it.
Kanter Freedom and Royce White declared for the WNBA draft as a protest. They want the league to harden rules on transgender athletes in women’s sports. Kanter has called Sophie Cunningham a friend and an “American hero.” She did not return that language in a recent conversation.
“I’m gonna let them do them,” she told ESPN.
“I’m just focused on the Fever and on our sport. I think we have four more games left. I’m trying to just really dial in and keep the main thing the main thing.”
Sophie Cunningham Will Not Carry Kanter’s Campaign
That line matters because Kanter has used her name for weeks. He sat courtside in Chicago on Aug. 23 in a shirt defining “woman” as an adult human female. He cheered a Sophie Cunningham three before Natasha Cloud walked toward him.
Kanter Freedom later claimed Cloud yelled that Cunningham was “not gonna sleep with you.” Security threw him out. The Sky later banned him from the building.
Kanter also said Sophie Cunningham texted him after the ejection. The two-word message, he said, was “What happened?” She has not confirmed that text in public.
“I think this team has great potential to make a really great playoff run,” she said about the Fever. “And if I’m filling my brain and my energy with all that stuff, then it’s taking away from the team.”
Why Sophie Cunningham Drew The Line Now
Sophie Cunningham. Credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Her July ESPN profile started this cycle. She said she wanted to protect girls in sports and locker rooms. Critics called that hate, but Cunningham rejected the label then and now.
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that.’”
Kanter turned that stance into a tour and White joined the draft declaration. Rallies followed Fever road games as Sophie Cunningham kept playing. Indiana has four regular-season games left. She is treating those as the only story that belongs in her head.
The league still has no transgender player who was assigned male at birth. The CBA already limits the roster to women. Kanter’s draft filing is a stunt with a lawsuit attached. Sophie Cunningham’s answer leaves him to that project.
