Plausible Deniability: When You Give Losers The Reaction They're Looking For

SUNDAY, AUG. 23: In the middle of a matchup between the WNBA's Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky that was highly anticipated for other reasons, a league that has become no stranger to controversy produced its latest highly viral moment.

Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom, who has recently gained notoriety for his announcement of intention to enter the WNBA Draft, attended Sunday's Fever/Sky game. NAM Y. HUH / AP PHOTO

With 1:22 remaining in the third quarter, Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud scored a tough driving layup in between Fever guard Caitlin Clark and forward Monique Billings to cut Indiana's lead to 81-75. After briefly celebrating with her teammates, Cloud moseyed over to where Enes Kanter Freedom was seated underneath the basket and began exchanging words with Kanter. In the immediate moments following, Cloud went back with her teammates to the Sky's bench, while Kanter was promptly escorted away from his seat and out of the arena.

After the game: a 113-90 Fever victory on the road, both Cloud and Kanter took to social media to react to the incident. In doing so, they voiced support for... two very different causes.

Cloud:

And Kanter:

Kanter, an 11-year NBA veteran who last played in the league in 2022, has frequently made a name for himself by speaking out as an activist against causes that most would consider taboo, including speaking out against the government in his home country of Turkey, to being staunchly pro-Israel, to condemning Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping. Kanter legally changed his name to "Enes Kanter Freedom" in 2021.

In the recent weeks, Kanter has taken up a new self-proclaimed cause: protecting women by challenging the support of trans women in the WNBA.

Former NBA player and Republican politician Royce White joined Kanter in this objective, even going as far as donning a wig on camera while also declaring for the WNBA Draft.

All of this originated from comments made by Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham in an ESPN feature in July. She discussed many themes and topics, such as being Caitlin Clark's enforcer, but none of Cunningham's commentary was more explosive than the following:

"I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I'm like, 'I never once said that,'" she says. "I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn't have to go against biological men." — 'Love her or hate her, Sophie Cunningham won't be ignored' - Sophie Cunningham feature written by ESPN's Hallie Grossman

Cunningham, of course, was on the court for Indiana during last night's game; the setting of this story's inciting incident. She scored 3 points (1-4 FG) in 11 minutes.

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Sophie Cunningham's viral pointing incident in June sparked memes and added to Cunningham's career-long lore as an irritant.

Some might surmise that Cunningham's presence on the court last night was all the fuel needed to ignite the flames between Cloud and Kanter. Pro-trans and anti-trans gestures, statements and rallies have followed Cunningham's Fever seemingly in whichever road city they've played in over the past month; most notably outside New York City's Barclays Center this past Saturday.

As Yahoo Sports writer Ishaan Bhattacharya put it, with acuity:

"The crowd that is against trans inclusion anyway is not usually a patron of the WNBA and is jumping onto this political hot topic for their personal beliefs rather than an active love for the sport." — Sophie Cunningham addresses anti-trans protests outside WNBA games using her images, YAHOO

Which brings me to my central point here.

Simple and plain: there's a difference between actual, boots-on-the-ground activism and trolling, gaslighting, instigating and "clout-chasing."

There's a difference between picking up a worthy cause and fighting for what one deems to be right against an actual marginalized party and being a bad-faith actor, which is exactly what the WNBA dismissed Kanter, White and anyone else parroting their "mission" as in an official league statement nearly two weeks ago today.

Kanter and White state that they're doing this to get the WNBA to clarify their policy on who is allowed to play in the league, also stating confusion by the WNBA's "loose" definition of what a woman is. The league’s collective bargaining agreement states that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA,” but it does not include any more specific language about gender identity or sex assigned at birth.

Sure, there's no way to really prove this save for a lie-detector test, so if you really truly believe that Kanter and White are fighting the good fight because of their love for women and their motivation to protect them, I guess I can't argue with you on that. I also happen to have a beautiful beachfront property in Idaho to sell you. Are you interested?

Kanter's act on Sunday was actually that of a clear-cut provocateur — the kids call it "ragebaiting."

Kanter announced beforehand that he would be attending the game, wore a shirt outlining the definition of the word woman (WOMAN noun. adult human female.) Per Kanter's own account, he was enthusiastic in his support of Cunningham, to Cloud's disgust:

“Sophie Cunningham shot a three, and I put my hands up to celebrate… Natasha came back and started screaming and yelling and said, ‘She’s not gonna sleep with you.” — Enes Kanter Freedom to FOX NEWS following his ejection during Sunday's Fever/Sky game

And then Kanter got Natasha Cloud to bite: hook, line and sinker.

It was not even the first controversy for Cloud this week: her postgame comments about green dildos being tossed (again) onto the court during two live WNBA games went viral. These recent sex-toy-toss incidents follow up a rash of the same incident happening multiple times during last year's WNBA season.

Despite Kanter and others' claims that they're doing all this to "fight the good fight" and protect women's sports, I raise that this is a made-up issue. There are no transgender players in the WNBA nor has there ever been.

I'm not even here to debate the "issue" of whether there should be, either. I'd rather take a hydrofluoric acid bath.

What all of this is, in a vacuum, is the age-old story of losers, bullies, and provocateurs poking and prodding for a reaction, and (in this case) getting exactly what they were seeking.

It's tough to say that Cloud should've handled Sunday's situation differently. It'd certainly be tough to tell her that directly. Cloud, like Kanter, has played basketball professionally for over a decade. She's been a WNBA fixture for years, and I'm sure seeing her league become the focus of criticisms, talking points, jokes, ridicule, etc isn't the most soothing thing in the world to witness. Like any other long-term veteran of a workforce, I'm certain Cloud puts a lot of pride into her work in the W.

Natasha Cloud in 2026. GEOFF STELLFOX / GETTY

The WNBA being subject to jokes isn't some new thing. I'm sure you've heard "why don't they lower the rims???" at least once or twice. Throw in the fact that there are multiple cases of players publicly dating other players, teammates or otherwise (something that doesn't happen in other pro sports leagues, for obvious reasons) and people happen to see humor in the WNBA's uniqueness.

Things took a more serious tone once Caitlin Clark was drafted into the league by the Indiana Fever with the #1 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft. Clark is a special talent who grew a cult following during her rise as an Iowa Hawkeye in college. Angel Reese's taunting of Clark on the way to her LSU Tigers defeating the Hawkeyes in the 2023 Women's Basketball National Championship was demonized by many who ran to Clark's defense.

Clark's presence in the WNBA has ushered in a new type of WNBA fan that the league hadn't really encountered before. These new fans view Clark as a political avatar. Each flagrant foul she suffers consistently becomes a leading story on FOX News and other mediums. Add in Sophie Cunningham and her personality, and the Fever have become a sort of avatar in the adverse. All of that, in a significant way, have led us here.

This is a very large-scale form of gaslighting, based off a "loophole" in the WNBA's policy and CBA that Kanter, White and others are taking full advantage of. Again, there's real activism and then there's political trolling. It's one big joke that is being disguised as campaigning.

There's no signs of any of this slowing down as far as the WNBA is concerned, so how should the players react moving forward? Did Natasha Cloud's choice to confront Kanter on Sunday do more harm than good? Was it a necessary confrontation? Or did she simply amplify the trolls and embolden them to get even louder and more brazen?

There's never a perfect answer to this sort of question. It's akin to how a victim of bullying chooses to react when "enough is enough" for them.

Sure, you could tweet at Kanter or White or anyone parroting their WNBA talking points and say "hey, you don't even really give a fuck about women, I know what this is really about..."

Only for them to probably come back with some form of "GASP! How dare you. I'm putting everything on the line to become a WNBA player and protect my beloved women and THIS is the energy I'm getting in response? Sad! Brutal! STOP TRANS HATE!"

The wonders of plausible deniability. Although, White is making it patently obvious what he's doing here if you have a pulse.

The real matter of plausible deniability here is Kanter and White's true intentions. Are they 100% just bad faith actors who are using Sophie Cunningham's recent comments to catapult a harassing wide-scale attack against the WNBA, women, and trans rights? Or are they just two crusaders seeking to force the WNBA's hand in "more clearly defining" what a "woman" is?

The old phrase when it comes to dynamics like this is "what you allow will continue."

Another old phrase? "Oh, just ignore the trolls and they'll go away eventually. Don't ever give them the reaction they're looking for."

As we've covered, the WNBA has already crossed that line with Sunday's ON-COURT, MID-GAME incident, and today, we're already seeing the battery-in-the-back it's placed into Kanter and the league's detractors.

And I guess we've got no other choice now to see how deep the trolling goes and where it eventually leads.