‘Too Far!’ Stephen A. Slams Enes Kanter Freedom for ‘Classless’ WNBA Stunt

Stephen A. Smith went off on ex-NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom for the controversial stunt he recently pulled at a WNBA game.

Kanter attended Sunday’s game between the Chicago Sky and the Indiana Fever. In the third quarter, Sky guard Natasha Cloud scored and immediately directed her attention to Kanter. The two then exchanged words before Kanter was escorted out of Chicago’s Wintrust Arena.

The altercation came after Kanter repeatedly claimed he identified as a woman and declared for the WNBA in a clear anti-trans stunt.

In a YouTube video posted Tuesday, Smith agreed with the point Kanter was trying to make. He strongly disagreed with his methods, though.

“It was a classless thing for him to do,” Smith said, “because it’s not– the ladies that are playing don’t have anything to do with this. The league does. Its collective bargaining agreement may be the case. The liberal tilt that it has might be a cause, or a cause effect, to some degree. I get all of that. But the actual ladies that are involved, they have nothing to do with this and they don’t deserve to be agitated the way he clearly was willing to do in attendance at the game.

“It wasn’t just about him standing, but he was just about to step to her. You got no business doing that! You got no business doing that! And that was just excessive. Although I get his point, I see his point, I understand his point, the point is it was excessive. And you know that. And it was agitating them. They don’t deserve that, not the ladies actually playing. They don’t deserve that.”

Kanter — along with fellow ex-player Royce White — have repeatedly insisted they are now women and that the WNBA must welcome them into the league. In response, the WNBA has dismissed their claims and league officials have brushed them off as nothing more than publicity stunts. Despite a large wave of right-wing pressure, the WNBA was not seriously considering them for league eligibility.

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