Bruce Pearl may be the first familiar face to sit down with Enes Kanter Freedom since Freedom said he plans to enter the 2027 WNBA draft.
The former Auburn coach and current TV analyst appears alongside Freedom in a short video posted to X on Thursday, with the clip teasing an interview that is “coming soon.” Pearl’s question in the video goes straight to the heart of Freedom’s controversial announcement: “I’m gonna ask you a question I think everybody in America, I think everybody in the world would like an answer to: Are you a woman?”
Freedom’s response, which appears to be part of the same video, echoes LeBron James’ 2010 “Decision” reveal. He says, “Next spring, I’m going to take my talents and join the WNBA.”
The video also includes a caption from Freedom that lays out his claim and frames the argument around the league’s language: “The [WNBA] says a woman is anyone who claims to be one. So if I say I’m a woman, you have to accept it.
Those are the rules the WNBA created. Why does anyone get to decide whose journey is real and whose isn’t?
Who gets to judge? Rules Are Rules!”
Pearl and Freedom are close friends, and the two have worked together on a number of causes. In 2022, Pearl brought his Auburn team to Israel, where the group co-hosted an interfaith basketball clinic with Freedom.
Freedom’s move is part of a broader political and cultural fight over transgender athletes in women’s sports. He is a Turkish-American former NBA center who added Freedom to his given name in 2021 after becoming a political activist. From 2011-22, he averaged 11.6 points per game across six different NBA teams.
He is one of two male former players who have said they plan to enter the 2027 WNBA draft. The other is Royce White, who played briefly for the Sacramento Kings in 2014 and ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota as a Republican two years ago.
After Freedom and White made their public declarations, the WNBA responded with a statement: “There are no immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA, and we strongly denounce the bad-faith efforts to use these topics to demean or marginalize others.”
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