Stephen Jackson Tears Into Enes Kanter Freedom After Declaring For WNBA Draft: “Not Good Enough to Play Among Men”

Enes Kanter Freedom created a furor when he declared that he is a woman and wants to play in the WNBA.

Stephen Jackson Tears Into Enes Kanter Freedom After Declaring For WNBA Draft: “Not Good Enough to Play Among Men”

Enes Kanter Freedom and Stephen Jackson (Image via Polymarket/X/Stax/IG)

After Sophie Cunningham‘s claims to save women’s sports from men started this entire discourse, it has come to a point where former NBA players such as Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White have formally declared their intention to play in the WNBA.

Ever since the ESPN article highlighting the Indiana Fever star’s comments came to light, there have been two separate sides fighting over those words. On one hand are those who have been supporting Cunningham’s stance.

On the other hand, others are supporting trans athletes playing in women’s sports. Most notable among them was Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve, who wore a t-shirt supporting trans athletes.

Then, there was Golden State Valkyries star Gabby Williams, who mentioned that she was perfectly fine playing against men who claim to be trans women. This is the comment, along with Reeve’s support, that led Enes Kanter Freedom to blow the lid off this discourse.

Anybody who thinks a born man should play women’s sports you are an idiot… You are an insecure person. Nine out of ten times, that is nothing but a play. These guys are not good enough to play with men. You wanna just say you are a woman just to try to dominate? You are whack. It’s mostly White men that ain’t got no athleticism.

Stephen Jackson said on Twilight Zone

The former Indiana Pacers star believes that these players were not good enough against the rest of the NBA and are trying to do something to draw attention to themselves. Jackson feels that to use the women’s game to do that is a shameless act.

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Enes Kanter Freedom officially submits his name in WNBA Draft pool

When Enes Kanter Freedom announced his intentions to declare for the 2027 WNBA Draft, he was joined by another former player in Royce White. The latter, who played three games for the Sacramento Kings, ran in the US Senate election in Minnesota in 2024 and lost.

Kanter Freedom has been out of the NBA for 5 years
Kanter Freedom has been out of the NBA for 5 years (Image via Complex/X)

He has been on various platforms talking about how he will be channeling his inner ‘woman’ in his attempts to revive his basketball career in the WNBA. However, White has not officially submitted his name into the player pool for next year’s draft.

But Kanter Freedom has done his bit. The 34-year-old sent an email to the league office dated August 6th, 2026, cc-ing Cathy Engelbert, in which he expressed his desire to be added to the prospects pool for the 2027 Draft. The commissioner is already under fire, and this will add another discourse to her shaky situation.

He reiterated that he has no college eligibility remaining and is above the minimum age required to be able to declare for the draft. The Turkish-American finished the email by asking the league to acknowledge receipt of this email.

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Analyst doubts Enes Kanter Freedom’s real reasons to declare for the WNBA draft, and it involves LeBron James

Enes Kanter Freedom played 11 seasons in the league and was a decent contributor off the bench. To explain how he got to this point where he is now taking shots at the WNBA, analyst Amin Elhassan explained how LeBron James is involved.

When the whole Daryl Morey-China thing happened,… Enes Kanter was one of the loudest voices saying, like, ‘Hey, LeBron, if you’re all about people, civil rights and stuff, you should be mad about China.’… A guy started out speaking about a very real injustice in his home country… Now this is the shores that we landed on.

Elhassan said

To this, his Dan Le Batard colleague agreed that the WNBA becoming a hot topic made it very lucrative for someone such as Enes Kanter Freedom to dip his toes into. The last time he did it was when he called out James, and instantly grew in popularity amongst conservatives.

He has been out of the NBA for nearly five years, and the best way to draw attention and possibly earn some money in the process is to become the face of the side who are taking the war against the WNBA.

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