X/@EnesFreedom | ESPN
Enes Kanter didn't take long to gloat about Cathy Engelbert's retirement
Embattled WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who many in the sports media world either predicted or hoped would not be in that role, announced today that she will be retiring at the end of the year. Enes Kanter didn’t take long to celebrate.
Enes Kanter, a former NBA center who declared his intention to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft, attended a game in a “WOMAN noun adult human female” shirt and got ejected after a confrontation with Natasha Cloud, and claimed eight other professional athletes are prepared to join his grift, posted his response to Engelbert’s retirement announcement less than an hour after the news broke.
Enes Kanter Freedom gloated about WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s “retirement” less than an hour after the league made its statement
“MAKE @WNBA FEMALE AGAIN. Commissioner Freedom Has a Nice Ring to It,” Kanter posted on social media just a few hours after Engelbert’s alleged retirement was announced.
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
“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,” he continued.
“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,” he added. “I’ll bring common sense. I’ll bring fairness. And yes, I’ll bring a dictionary.”
While it was already a controversy-strewn season for the WNBA — with incidents including but not limited to: Alyssa Thomas throat punching Caitlin Clark, congressional letters demanding accountability, a USA Today column invoking Emmett Till, the Sophie Cunningham transgender athlete controversy, DiJonai Carrington’s “WHITE PRIVILEGE” post, and WNBA security telling fans to cover their XX-XY shirts — Kanter’s obsession with the league has turned it into a true side show.
“After more than seven years at the WNBA and more than 40 total years in business, I have made the decision to retire as WNBA Commissioner. In 2019, I had the privilege of being appointed the league’s first commissioner and to lead a league with enormous potential yet untapped awareness and significant undervaluation. Over the years, it has been amazing to watch WNBA players thrive and lead the massive cultural surge around women’s sports,” Engelbert said in a statement.
“I retire knowing we have built something bigger, stronger and more enduring than we could have imagined. I am grateful to the WNBA and NBA team owners and staff, players, investors, fans and the powerhouse league office staff, who believed in what this league could become. I retire with immense gratitude and tremendous optimism for the future of the WNBA, with the best yet to come.”
Despite having the best crop of talent in the league’s history, the league finds itself steeped in controversial discourse to such an extent that the actual basketball it’s currently putting on display is secondary to its place in the culture wars. And while Engelbert wasn’t specifically at fault for that, she played a significant role in its unfolding all the same.