Ex-NBA Star Reveals His Life Is Under Threat Amid Infamous WNBA Battle With Commissioner Cathy Engelbert

Former NBA star Enes Kanter Freedom has been making headlines lately- and not for the most flattering reasons. Freedom has been vocal in his opposition to the WNBA, pushing back against the league's stance on transgender athletes and their eligibility to compete. Several transgender women have reportedly been turned away from the WNBA Draft on the grounds that they are not biological women, and Freedom has found himself right in the middle of that debate.

Freedom, however, thinks he's found a crack in the rulebook. The WNBA's guidelines, as he points out, don't explicitly require players to be biological women - they simply require players to be women. That distinction has become the foundation of his argument, and it's kept him front and center in the news and all over social media as he continues to pressure the league on the matter. But his campaign hasn't come without a cost. The attention his actions have drawn has apparently resulted in a flood of death threats coming his way.

"You know, this is (the WNBA's) rules... If you identify as a woman, you should be allowed to play," Freedom said in an interview with FOX News. The interview was reposted by The Post Millennial on X."I identify as a woman, right? ... The one thing is, and I want to make this very clear, a lot of the WNBA players are coming out and saying I do this for attention. Let me tell you something: my DMs are full of pictures and videos of the moment that Charlie Kirk got shot. They're saying I am next very soon. This is unacceptable."

Whatever the WNBA thinks of Freedom right now, there's no getting around the fact that receiving death threats is a frightening thing, regardless of where you stand on the issue. Still, the former NBA star doesn't seem rattled. He's pressing forward, continuing to call out WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert by name.

In fact, Freedom has gone as far as claiming that Engelbert announced her retirement specifically to avoid having to deal with the firestorm he's brought to her league's doorstep.

"The commissioner of the WNBA, (Cathy Engelbert), stepped down because she couldn't take the pressure," Freedom added. "But I just hope that whoever the next commissioner is will make the right decision and add the word 'biological' in their collective bargaining, or I am playing in 2027."

Former WNBA Champion Emerges as Cathy Engelbert's Replacement

Earlier this September, Cathy Engelbert announced that she is stepping down from her position as the WNBA Commissioner by the end of 2026. Turning 62 this November, Engelbert noted that she's already reached the age she had in mind for her retirement.

With only three months remaining, the association needs to find a replacement for Engelbert soon. One of the top names to recently come to light is WNBA Hall of Famer Swin Cash.

"Basketball HOFer Swin Cash has emerged as an early candidate as the successor to WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert," Sports Business Journal reported on X. "Cash currently serves as the Women’s Sports Foundation’s board president after experience as a prominent executive and investor in the basketball world."

As of this writing, Engelbert's successor has yet to be determined. Several other names have also been considered as candidates, like WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike and Head of WNBA League Operations Bethany Donaphin, just to name a few.