Former Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter Freedom was ejected from the WNBA game between the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky on Sunday night after a verbal altercation with Sky guard Natasha Cloud.

It's a complex and layered scenario, so let's take a look at what's going on.

The WNBA, often at the forefront of social and political activism, has been in the middle of the conversation about transgender rights and whether or not transgender athletes should be allowed to participate in women's sports.

Fever guard Sophie Cunningham has garnered backlash for her position that transgender players should not be allowed to participate in women's sports.

Well, Kanter Freedom and former NBA player Royce White have decided to test the commitment of some WNBA players (and the league as a whole) to the position that transgender athletes belong in women's sports.

Both have said that they now identify as women and are declaring themselves eligible for the 2027 WNBA Draft. Kanter Freedom, specifically, has been outspoken that he meets all the criteria to be eligible for the draft, and he wants his rights supported.

As you can imagine, the reaction is split. Some people are praising him as a champion who is making the league look hypocritical for not immediately embracing him.

Others are angry with him for taking a serious topic such as transgender rights and turning it into political theater.

In the third quarter of Indiana's 113-90 win, Cloud was seen jawing at Kanter Freedom, who was sitting on the sideline at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. He was wearing a shirt that displayed the definition of a woman. The WNBA recently has been discussing what exactly makes someone a woman as part of meetings focused on transgender eligibility. 

It's unclear what specifically sparked this incident, though it might have just been Kanter Freedom's presence as he sat courtside.

Cloud did not speak to the media after the game, instead posting this message to Threads: 

"To every trans kid/person,

You are apart of MY community & tribe. You belong. You’re loved. You’re seen. You’re perfect as you are.

& you will always be protected by me."

Now 34, he spent 11 seasons in the NBA with the Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks, Portland Trail Blazers and Celtics. At 6-foot-10, he averaged 11.2 points per game and received votes for NBA Sixth Man of the Year in four different seasons.

He was with the Celtics twice, in 2019-20 and in 2021-22. He was traded to the Houston Rockets in February 2022, so he did not participate in the team's run to the NBA Finals, where Boston lost to the Golden State Warriors.

He never suited up for the Rockets; he was released four days after the trade.

Kanter Freedom also has a history of activism. He has been a vocal critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, where the former player was raised. He also has criticized China and its stance on human rights, and he has spoken out against the governments of other foreign countries, including Iran and Russia.