Donald Trump Predicts Enes Kanter Freedom And Dennis Rodman Will Break Women’s Sports Records

Enes Kanter Freedom has invited Donald Trump to his first proposed WNBA game as he presses a gender-policy challenge backed by Dennis Rodman. The former NBA center announced the invitation Friday after attending Trump’s Thursday rally in Durant, Oklahoma, where the president discussed both players.

“After a great conversation with President @realdonaldtrump, I officially invited him to my first @wnba game in 2027,” Freedom wrote. Freedom also claimed Rodman had agreed to coach him during the offseason as he prepares for a hoped-for place in women’s basketball. Freedom spent 11 seasons in the NBA before the Houston Rockets waived him in 2022, after playing for Utah, Oklahoma City, New York, Portland and Boston.

Trump jokingly offered both men permission to enter women’s sports during his speech, using the language of a presidential pardon. “And they have an exemption. I’m giving them a full pardon that they can go into women’s sports anytime they want,” Trump said.

Trump said of Freedom: “he’s willing to say that he’s a woman in order to play against women, and I don’t think he really believes that, but that’s OK.” Trump then predicted that both players would set records against women and singled out Freedom as looking younger than Rodman.

Earlier, Trump questioned whether Rodman could still compete against women while joking that the retired NBA champion’s age might pose a problem. “So, Dennis, you’re a little bit older now, but you’re in great shape. Do you think you’d be able to make it in women’s basketball?” Trump asked.

Freedom’s bid for the 2027 draft began in August, when he argued that declaring his identity should satisfy the league’s requirements for joining the women’s competition. Reuters reported in August that league sources rejected Freedom’s eligibility claim and said he and fellow former NBA player Royce White could not participate. No active WNBA player was openly transgender at the time, and the league lacked a publicly available policy specifically addressing transgender participation.

AllHipHop previously traced the dispute to Sophie Cunningham’s comments opposing transgender women in women’s sports, followed by protests and competing player responses. Gabby Williams welcomed transgender athletes, while Boosie opposed their inclusion and singled out French transgender basketball player Julie Tétart in an online post.

“PLEASE KEEP THEM JUWANNA MANS OUT THE WNBA‼️U WAS MADE A MAN TO PLAY AGAINST ONE,” Boosie wrote. The players’ union weighed in during August and rejected efforts to use its members as political pawns while warning against attacks on transgender people.

The dispute reached courtside when security removed Freedom from an August Sky-Fever game after his confrontation with Chicago guard Natasha Cloud. He wore a shirt defining women as adult human females and later alleged that the removal violated his right to free speech. His lawsuit also names the city of Chicago and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which owns Wintrust Arena where security removed him.

Freedom filed suit against the Chicago Sky on Sept. 3 over his ejection from the Aug. 23 game at Wintrust Arena.