Enes Kanter Freedom has come forward with new allegations regarding the culture of the NBA during his playing career and sent a warning to the WNBA amid his ongoing feud regarding the league's gender eligibility policy.
Freedom's new statements come one day after the WNBA tried to direct him to sit in a private luxury suite at Game 3 of the WNBA Finals in Atlanta instead of the courtside seat he purchased, amid security concerns. The change in arrangement resulted in a highly-publicized encounter with police at the entrance of State Farm Arena, which resulted in Freedom leaving the venue entirely amid disagreements over where he wanted to sit.
Now Freedom is revealing that his former Boston Celtics teammate Dennis Schröder privately questioned LeBron James’ motives as an activist, and that his Celtics teammates once shunned him for making an appearance on Fox News in his final year in the league in 2021.
According to Freedom, he asked Schröder that season what James was like as a teammate and how he viewed James’ public advocacy.
"He said, 'Whatever is LeBron doing is for LeBron.' I was like, enough said. We don't have to say a word anymore. Because, uh, I used to respect him a lot, you know, uh, for what he'd done for Black community. Uh, but when one of his former teammates said, you know, all his advocacy is for, is for LeBron, um, that's where, that's where he lost me."
Freedom also criticized James’ conduct during the national anthem before Philadelphia’s season opener against the Knicks on Tuesday. Video showed James making apparent golf and shooting motions during the performance, prompting criticism from President Donald Trump on Thursday.
"But I mean, everybody knows LeBron James... I call him the dictator of the NBA. And I think President Trump said the best. You know, he disrespects our country and disrespects our flag," Freedom said. "LeBron James is the reason the NBA is woke still. I promise you, once he retires, NBA is not going to be as woke as now."
In terms of the league's "woke" culture, Freedom also recalled an incident in his final year when he was praised for doing a television appearance on CNN, but shunned for going on Fox News to discuss the same topic of human rights abuses in China.
"I actually attended a show on CNN. The next day I walk in the locker room, they were saying, 'Good job last night, we watched your interview, keep doing what you're doing," he said. "The next morning I walk in the locker room, nobody said a word to me. They were not even looking at me. I was getting these dirty looks. I asked one of my teammates, I'm like, what happened?"
Freedom said a teammate explained that the objection was to the outlet carrying his message.
"They said, well, we watched your interview again last night. I'm like, okay. It's not your interviews, it's who you did it with. I walk on the court, one of my assistant coaches came up to me and whisper— he was whispering in my ear, hey man, me and my family watched you last night, good job. I'm like, why are you whispering?"
According to Freedom, the coach feared a backlash of his own.
"He said, because I don't want your teammates to know that I watch Fox News. I was like, why? They said, well, because none of them will talk to me the rest of the year."
Freedom said he explained to teammates that appearing on the network did not mean endorsing a political party, and that he wanted his human rights advocacy to reach a wider audience. But they weren't receptive to that reasoning, he claims.
"In NBA circles, we don't talk about Fox News, we don't watch Fox News, and if you do, you will realize that you are going to get cancelled and you're going to get hated on," Freedom said.
But Freedom also claimed that those beliefs are different in private, for some, claiming that that some players privately support conservative causes and President Donald Trump but conceal those views because they fear how they would be treated.
But Freedom claimed some NBA players privately support conservative causes and Trump while concealing those views because they fear how others would treat them.
"But there are many people actually that supports the conservative movements, supports the Republican Party, uh, many of them actually supports President Trump, but just because of they know that they will get canceled and they will get hated on throughout the whole year, they're just hiding it. I mean, you're not even allowed to say you watch Fox News," Freedom said.
Freedom said he has encountered similar reluctance to speak publicly among former NBA colleagues discussing his current campaign to push the WNBA to explicitly restrict eligibility to biological females.
He said some initially questioned his tactics, but expressed support after he explained his intentions.
"I don't want to give their name because I know, I just know that as soon as I expose their name, then there will be a lot of questions," Freedom said.
According to Freedom, those conversations included players telling him "we cannot help you," while also saying, "but now we understand what you're doing and we support you and we will pray for you."
Freedom also pointed to a podcast conversation with Michael Porter Jr., saying Porter initially had questions about the campaign and understood his position better after they discussed it. He did not identify the other players he said privately supported him.
Meanwhile, Freedom named Kevin Durant, Patrick Beverley, Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson among the current and former NBA players he said have criticized him, challenging them to discuss their disagreements directly.
"Invite me to your podcast and let's sit down and talk. And let me explain to you why am I doing the things that I'm doing. Don't just go on Twitter. Don't just go on social media and just tweet about it. You know how to, you know, you have my number."
His campaign to join the WNBA has now culminated in two hostile incidents at WNBA arenas after he was ejected from a Chicago Sky game in August, and then faced police resistance while trying to enter State Farm Arena on Wednesday night.
Freedom said one of the reasons that sitting courtside on Wednesday was so important to him was because he wanted to make sure that his shirt, which read "What is a woman?" would be as visible as possible during the game. Asked whether he wanted television cameras to capture his "What is a woman?" shirt from courtside, he acknowledged that visibility was part of his thinking.
"I mean, that was one of the reasons maybe. My main reason was I wanted to support the WNBA," he said.
But he said accepting the suite was never an option.
"They were trying to put me in a prison box. And I mean, everyone knows me that I'm not going to bow down or kneel to someone who is trying to silence me," Freedom said.
The Atlanta Dream and State Farm Arena said the arrangement responded to safety concerns Freedom himself had raised with authorities and basketball officials. They said the suite would have additional security and was intended to protect him and other guests.
Although Freedom objected to being surrounded by police at the entrance, he acknowledged that the officers treated him courteously.
"They were very, actually very kind. They were trying to do their job, and I was being very very nice to them as well," he said. "This is not their fault."
He nevertheless rejected suggestions that he should have accepted the seating arrangement or handled the encounter more diplomatically.
"I think I handled everything perfectly," he said.
Freedom also pushed back against accusations that his campaign is a publicity stunt, pointing to threats he said included references to Charlie Kirk’s shooting.
"I think people need to understand I'm getting death threats every hour. I mean, I showed you that the text messages, you know, yesterday that people are sending me pictures and videos of the moment that Charlie Kirk got shot and said, you are next," he said.
"So I'm not that crazy. I'm not going to put my life on risk just to get attention."
Freedom said the campaign would end if the WNBA explicitly restricted eligibility to biological females. The league has already declared Freedom and fellow former NBA player Royce White ineligible, while its collective bargaining agreement limits participation to women without specifying sex assigned at birth.
"I'm literally telling the league that define what a woman is, or add the word biological in your collective bargaining next to the word female. I will disappear the next day," Freedom said.
But he said he was finished initiating further discussions with league officials.
"If they would like to sit down and have a conversation with me, listen, I love diplomacy," he said. "But I'm done reaching out. So if they would like to reach out, uh, go ahead. You have my number."
Despite the league’s eligibility determination, Freedom said he still intends to attend the next draft and continue preparing for it. He also claimed the campaign could expand to include additional male professional players, whom he did not identify.
"If they don't draft me and if they don't change the rules, now they have to deal with 6 other male professional players," he said.
CAMAS, Wash. — The sign seemed innocuous enough. So did the man holding it. But a passing jogger apparently saw things differently.
Outside a district cross country meet in which a biological male was competing against girls, Steve Lynch held a sign that read: "Coached X-C & Track for 24 years. If you have questions about the differences between Girls & Boys...answers given here FREE of charge!"
But as Lynch began explaining those differences, the jogger shouted: "Jesus loves a firing squad! Go kill Muslims! Go kill trans people! That's your rhetoric, right? F--- you!"
Lynch represents courage on this issue, which is something many adults lack. Over the past few weeks, it's been mostly students, not grown-ups, who have led the opposition to a Camas High cross country runner competing against girls after starting the season on the boys team.
But a rally outside Wednesday's meet — where the boy finished second among a field of 25 to help lead Camas to the girls district championship — showed that the adults are catching up in the bravery department.
There looked to be more than 100 grown-ups, maybe 200, in attendance — mostly dressed in garb advocating for the separation of males and females in sports. At the heart of the rally was Initiative 638 — a Nov. 3 ballot measure in Washington state that would enforce such separation in K-12 athletics.
People such as Sarah Burns, the mother of a Camas runner who walked off the start line in protest last week, never imagined herself playing the role of activist when the cross country season began. But now she finds herself at the center of one of the most contentious debates in Washington state.
"I was just a mom going to watch her daughter, and then we found out what was happening, and I couldn't not say something," said Burns, wearing an XX-XY Athletics shirt. "These are teenage girls that should be able to be teenage girls and run and compete in their sport and not have their achievements taken from them."
Burns was not the only Camas parent willing to speak out on Wednesday. Also in attendance was Sarah Babb, whose daughter Madeline walked off the start line last week as well. Like Burns' daughter, Holly, Madeline had no idea her actions would prompt such widespread media attention. But as reporters from across the nation showed up to cover Wednesday's rally and meet, Sarah was no longer feeling quite so isolated.
"As a mom who comes to these races all season long, it feels very alone as I stand there and go, 'This is awful,'" Babb said. "So it was great to see such support last week, and this is wild this week. It's hard to be the quiet majority, to feel like we're being bullied into silence. I think a lot of people feel that way. I know it's scary. It's scary."
It certainly can be. Over the past couple weeks that I've been covering this story, most parents have been reluctant to speak — even anonymously. Many have expressed fear of losing their jobs, and one even said, "I don't want my house burned down."
It's easy to catastrophize, especially when you see how vicious opponents of the Protect Women's Sports crowd can be. There was the aforementioned jogger. There was the Golden State Valkyries fan who told an XX-XY shirt-wearer to "f---ing kill yourself" at a WNBA Finals game last week. There was the Seattle Storm co-owner telling a girl with the same shirt that she's "f---ing insane" in July, bringing that girl to tears.
Surely one can see why parents would want to sit this issue out, right? Women's sports advocate Amy Sousa isn't so sure.
"I don't have a lot of patience for adults who are willing to let the girls take the hits," Sousa said. "If these girls are willing to stand up to their peers, I think adults can stand up to theirs. And if they can't do it in public, at least they can do it at the ballot."
There were some people at Wednesday's rally very much against I-638. One was a woman named Stephanie, who didn't want her last name used but was cordial with me and my photographer.
She said the measure would require invasive genital exams to prove one's sex, which is not true. When I mentioned that there were other options such as cheek swabs, she argued that that would be too expensive and that there weren't enough trans athletes for such testing to be worthwhile. When I mentioned all the female athletes speaking out against having to compete against biological males as a matter of fairness, she offered the following:
"Fairness is reasonable, and I do think there should be rules. Even in the Olympics, each sport can set up certain rules. I don't want to wrestle with somebody who's got 40 pounds on me, whether they're male or female," Stephanie said. "But that's about size, not just about what gender you're born."
Come on, though. It's more than about size, isn't it? How many women under 6'4" have you seen dunk a basketball? Yet there are countless men under that height who can. Biology matters in every sport.
In fact, it was a difference in biology that ultimately led Camas High senior Kate Westfall — the fastest girl on the cross country roster — to quit the team earlier in the month. Westfall won districts last year. She had bigger aspirations in her final high school season. But she walked away from it all because she felt racing against a boy simply wasn't fair.
So Wednesday, her parents — Joe and Jennie — showed up to districts in protect-women's-sports attire to honor their daughter's courage.
"She made the brave decision to forgo the rest of her senior season and give up opportunities in order to bring awareness to the impact the current state policy is having on females who are being forced to compete in this unfair environment," Jennie said. "As her parents, we are proud of her courage and are honored to stand with her."
Marseille conceded their third defeat in three Europa League games on Thursday in Graz, as an early goal was enough to seal the three points for the hosts.
Germany is one a handful of FIFA's 211 nations to refuse an invitation to play at the inaugural Under-15 World Cup. The tournament will also mark Russia's return to the FIFA fold.
En Ligue Europa, Marseille s'est incliné en Autriche contre le Sturm Graz (1-0). Avec trois défaites en trois journées, les Phocéens sont désormais 34es du classement et se rapprochent de l'élimination.
Pour la première fois dans l'histoire de la NFL, un match de la saison régulière va se disputer à Paris. Les New Orleans Saints affrontent dimanche les Pittsburgh Steelers au Stade de France. Avant l'évènement, France 24 a reçu Alvin Kamara, le "running back" des Saints, pour évoquer sa semaine parisienne, ainsi que ses projets au Liberia, dont sa famille est originaire.
President Donald Trump called on LeBron James to apologize Thursday after video showed the Philadelphia 76ers star moving his arms and practicing shooting motions during the national anthem.
Jamal Wallace, a senior defensive tackle at the University of Utah, has been suspended from the school's football program after being accused of rape and forcible sodomy and of sharing videos of the alleged attack on social media.
Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams showed NFL fans once again that they're a match made in heaven.
Chicago didn't give the New England Patriots much of a shot in Week 7's Thursday night matchup. The Bears comfortably beat the Pats, 30-24, improving to 5-2.
In a game decided by just six points, Drake Maye leaving guaranteed points on the turf with a killer second-quarter end-zone pick loomed large. It forced New England into chase mode all night. It was Maye's third INT in the end zone this season.
New England almost went into the halftime break facing a scary deficit, if not for a 48-yard TD run by Pats RB Rhamondre Stevenson. Chicago's defense fell asleep at the wheel; an effort on D unbecoming of this franchise.
In his second game back from a hamstring injury, Caleb continued to ride an offensive groove, throwing for 308 yards (22-of-32) and two touchdowns.
On the Al Michaels front — the play-by-play icon had another sleepy outing, stumbling through a few sequences, including calling a Pats "fumble" that never occurred. The 81-year-old broadcaster also mistook Williams and Maye for QBs from the "class of 2014." They were drafted in 2024.
Chicago extinguished New England's last-minute comeback bid courtesy of exceptional clock management by coach Johnson and a nail-in-the-coffin, career-best 58-yard field goal from Cairo Santos. The kick let the former Vrabel disciple stick it to his old boss, leaving the Patriots coach grimacing on the sideline knowing he'd been out-dueled.
Maye finished with 321 passing yards (24-of-31) with two touchdowns and that costly turnover.
The final play of the first half between the New England Patriots and Chicago Bears on "Thursday Night Football" was the definition of: "What in the world did we just watch?"
After Luther Burden III scored for the Bears on third-and-17 near the red zone, Chicago went up 20-7 in the waning seconds of the second quarter. With the Bears getting the ball to start the third quarter, it would’ve been the perfect ending to the first half at home.
The Patriots took over with just 14 seconds left to play, but quarterback Drake Maye didn’t just kneel the clock out and head to the locker room. Instead, the Patriots were going to at least take a shot to get some points back before going to halftime.
After A.J. Brown hauled in his first catch of the night for 18 yards, the Patriots were near midfield for what should’ve been a Hail Mary attempt. But when Maye dumped the ball off to running back Rhamondre Stevenson, it seemed no points were coming the Patriots way in the end.
But Stevenson found some space and waited for his teammates to make a couple of blocks. Then, the Bears defenders, who didn’t seem to have urgency to bring Stevenson down, over-pursued the veteran back, and he found a crease toward the end zone.
Stevenson sprinted into the end zone for a 48-yard score as the clock expired, shocking the entire Soldier Field crowd as the Bears were only up 20-14.
NextGenStats found that Stevenson only had a 4.3% chance of scoring once the ball hit his hands.
We’ll see if this miraculous touchdown will come back to haunt the Bears, who are playing their first home game since the passing of legendary coach Mike Ditka. The night began with a moment of silence for the Super Bowl-winning coach, while fans were given fake mustaches to replicate his iconic look.
Todd Benzinger, the first baseman who caught the final out of the Cincinnati Reds’ 1990 World Series sweep, died Wednesday at age 63. His cause of death has not been released.
A Cincinnati-area native, Benzinger was drafted out of high school by the Boston Red Sox in 1981. After two seasons in Boston, he was traded to his hometown Reds ahead of the 1989 season. His defining career moment came on Oct. 20, 1990, when he caught the game-ending out in foul territory against the Oakland Athletics, securing Cincinnati's most recent title.
The Reds posted on X:
"The Cincinnati Reds are saddened by the passing of former first baseman and 1990 World Series champion Todd Benzinger. Todd will be remembered with great affection and gratitude for his place in one of the most memorable chapters in Reds history. Our deepest condolences go out to his family, friends, former teammates and all who knew and loved him."
The Reds traded Benzinger to the Kansas City Royals in 1991. He retired after the 1995 season, finishing a nine-year major league career with a .257 batting average, 733 hits, and 376 RBIs over 924 games.
Benzinger stayed active in local baseball after his playing days, managing Cincinnati's Class-A affiliate, the Dayton Dragons, from 2009 to 2010.
"Todd will forever be remembered by Reds fans for catching the final out of the 1990 World Series, but those of us who had the privilege of knowing him will remember so much more," said Rick Walls, executive director of the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum.
"Todd remained close to the Cincinnati community and was a tremendous friend to the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum, generously participating in our events and sharing his time with fans. We will miss his friendship, his kindness and his presence in our community."
For Reds fans, Benzinger's glove reaching into the foul territory at the Oakland Coliseum remains the definitive image of Cincinnati's crowning baseball moment.
Super Bowl champion and Southern University football coach Marshall Faulk is facing a personal battle off the field. The Pro Football Hall of Famer announced Wednesday that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Faulk, 53, said during an appearance on "The Caring Neurologist" podcast that medication has helped limit his symptoms to hand rigidity. He added that he believes the rigidity has not worsened during the year and a half he has been dealing with the disease because of his treatment. Faulk also said he has experienced "little tremors."
Faulk told host Dr. Sandeep Thakkar that he hopes speaking publicly about his diagnosis will help others. "I want to help as many people as I can," he said.
Faulk initially dismissed the hand rigidity he experienced while golfing as normal nerves but grew concerned when it continued even when he was not competing.
"I just thought it was normal nerves when putting and stuff like that," he said. "But it started to be times where ... I was playing, but I wasn't in a match, and it would still do that. And I was like, 'Wow, is that something -- is that normal?' And the doctor was -- he literally was like, 'You need to go get checked.'"
Faulk’s outlook was shaped in part by a dinner with Muhammad Ali, who also had Parkinson’s. He left that interaction thinking, "He’s all there," and said the diagnosis did not make him believe his life was over.
"So, knowing that, I didn't look at it like if I got a diagnosis, life was going to end," Faulk said. "I treat it like -- I've had a bunch of surgeries on my right knee. There's some parts in it that aren't mine, that aren't original. My back, you know, it hurts every once in a while."
Faulk was selected No. 2 overall by the Indianapolis Colts in the 1994 NFL Draft. The standout running back spent his first five NFL seasons in Indianapolis before joining the St. Louis Rams, where he played a key role in the team’s Super Bowl run during the 1999 season. Faulk was named NFL MVP the following year.
Faulk last played in an NFL game in 2005. He is a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer.
Faulk was named Southern University’s head coach in November 2025 after serving as Colorado’s running backs coach under Deion Sanders earlier that year. Southern is 3-4 so far in Faulk's debut season.
Charles Barkley is ready to pull the plug on television soon, and he wants zero part of the Aaron Rodgers farewell playbook.
During an appearance on SiriusXM, the 11-time NBA All-Star and 2006 Hall of Fame inductee laughed off any comparison between his own planned exit and the veteran quarterback's messy final tour.
"But I tell you what though, I'm not gonna bury everybody going out the door like Aaron," Barkley said, roasting the 42-year-old future Hall of Famer. "I'm not gonna burn every bridge and talk bad about all my exes on my way out the door like he's doing."
Barkley took aim at Rodgers' appearance on the Not Just Football podcast, where the quarterback focused heavily on his bitter family rift. Between jabs at exes and former teammates, Rodgers rehashed a decade of bad blood with his parents and brothers, Luke and Jordan. That feud went public during Jordan's 2016 stint on The Bachelorette, kicking off years of familial cold-shouldering and skipped family weddings.
Now in his 25th year on television, Chuck has built a beloved media career through brutal honesty.
Rodgers is currently grinding through his 22nd NFL season and is widely expected to finally hang 'em up once the season wraps.
Barkley's own retirement talk always comes with a massive grain of salt, as media peers routinely doubt whether he will actually follow through after teasing it for the better part of a decade.
L’Olympique lyonnais a cédé ses premiers points en Ligue Europa en s’inclinant jeudi en Allemagne, tandis que Marseille a enchaîné à Sturm Graz une troisième défaite en trois matches. Le Stade rennais a, pour sa part, décroché un nul à Turin face à la Juventus, ce qui le porte à cinq points.
For the first time since he passed away on Oct. 9, the Chicago Bears held a home game at Soldier Field, and it didn’t kick off until they honored their legendary coach on Thursday night.
Ditka, a Pro Football Hall of Famer as a tight end and a beloved Bears coach, died at age 86, and it hit the entire city of Chicago hard.
With their first home game back, it was expected that many Bears faithful would honor their former coach with his signature sweater, glasses and mustache combo.
In fact, the Bears were handing out fake mustaches for fans to wear during the game – an ode to the most iconic facial hair in the city.
As fans showcased their love for Ditka with their attire and more, a moment of silence was held for him before kickoff.
"Tonight, we remember Mike Ditka, a Hall of Fame tight end and coach of the 1985 Super Bowl-champion Chicago Bears. Tough, strong and fearless, ‘Iron Mike’ will always belong to the Bears," the PA announcer said over the speakers.
Before he led the Bears to a Super Bowl victory in 1985, he was a Super Bowl winner with the Dallas Cowboys as a player. But he was drafted by the Bears in 1961, becoming the first modern receiving tight end, while also being the first tight end selected to the Hall of Fame.
He won Offensive Rookie of the Year in 1961, while making five consecutive Pro Bowls from 1961-65. He was also a five-time All-Pro.
"It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and friend, Mike Ditka," a statement from his family earlier this month read. "While the world knew Mike as a Hall of Fame football player, legendary coach, and leader of the Chicago Bears’ Super Bowl XX championship team, we knew him as the heart of our family.
"Mike will be missed beyond measure and remembered forever."
After his illustrious playing career came to an end, Ditka worked his way into the head coaching role with the Bears, and he embodied everything the city and fan base was known for: no-nonsense, strong-willed people that showcased toughness and grit no matter the circumstances.
"We are deeply saddened by the passing of legendary and treasured Chicago Bear and Pro Football Hall of Famer Mike Ditka," the Bears said in a statement. "Mike’s impact on the Chicago Bears organization, over decades as a player, coach, and proud icon and ambassador for our organization, is immeasurable.
"His integral role in bringing world championships to our city and our franchise, both as a player and as our coach, established prominence and excellence at a world-class level, but also created a lifetime of cherished memories in the hearts and minds of Bears fans that will last for generations. We extend our love, prayers, and heartfelt condolences to the Ditka family, and join all Bears fans in deep sadness and reverence as we remember and honor Mike Ditka."
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