Enes Kanter Freedom, a former NBA player who’s become a vocal opponent of transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports, has filed a lawsuit against the Chicago Sky for ejecting and subsequently banning him following an in-game dispute with Sky guard Natasha Cloud last month.

Freedom filed the lawsuit in the U.S District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Thursday. He is seeking a declaration that his First Amendment rights were violated, that his indefinite ban from Wintrust Arena be lifted and that his legal fees are covered, as well as “an award of nominal and compensatory damages.”

At Chicago’s game against the Indiana Fever on Aug. 23, he sat courtside wearing a T-shirt that read “WOMAN noun. adult human female.” In the third quarter, Cloud approached him, and the two exchanged words. When Freedom stepped toward the court, security intervened and led him away before ejecting him from the building.

The Sky later banned Freedom from their home games indefinitely, though owner Michael Alter said the franchise might reconsider Freedom’s ban “if someday he’s able to demonstrate he’s capable of being at a game and conducting himself in compliance with our rules and not be a threat to people.”

The complaint lists the Sky, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority and the City of Chicago as defendants. Freedom is requesting a jury trial.

The Chicago Sky and the WNBA did not reply to requests for comment Thursday night.

Freedom posted the first page of the filing on social media on Thursday, saying he was ejected “while peacefully exercising my First Amendment rights.”

“You don’t have to agree with my speech but you don’t get to silence me for it,” he wrote. “I will not be intimidated. I will not be silenced. I will continue to stand for women and defend free speech.”

🚨SEE YOU IN COURT!!!

Just filed a federal complaint.

I’m taking legal action over my ejection from the @chicagosky game while peacefully exercising my First Amendment rights.

My T-shirt did what the whole @WNBA apparently couldn’t: define a woman.

No threats. No violence.… pic.twitter.com/LqQO6x4z0X

— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) September 3, 2026

Freedom, who played 11 seasons in the NBA, recently attempted to declare for the WNBA Draft to bring the league’s transgender athlete policies under scrutiny, though no transgender athletes play in the league. The WNBA confirmed he is not eligible to compete in the league.

The Sky’s fan code of conduct states that the team and arena “reserves the right to eject any patron that poses a threat to themselves or other guests. This includes, but not limited to, profanity, racial or ethnic comments, intoxication, disorderly conduct, drug use, sexual harassment, or other intimidating actions directed at officials, players, coaches, spectators, or team representatives.”

Alter said after the incident that when Freedom stepped toward the court he “turned himself into a potential threat.”

In Cloud’s first comments since the incident on Saturday, she referred to Freedom as “an irrelevant person.”

“I won’t be talking about anything that happened with an irrelevant person,” Cloud said ahead of the Sky’s game against the New York Liberty Saturday afternoon. “What I will focus on is what actually affects women and children.”

This story will be updated.

— Annie Costabile and Sabreena Merchant contributed to this story.