Chicago Sky owner opens up on Enes Kanter Freedom ejection, makes analogy to shooting a gun

EXCLUSIVE: Chicago Sky principal owner Michael Alter addressed the team’s decision to eject and ban Enes Kanter Freedom from Wintrust Arena in an exclusive interview on Wednesday. When asked why Freedom was not given a warning, Alter made the analogy that someone would not receive a warning for shooting a gun at someone before being punished.

Alter announced on Tuesday that Kanter was banned after his ejection from Sunday’s game against the Fever, as the team determined that he was “a threat.” Alter said Wednesday the determination that Freedom was a “threat” was a when he “took a step towards the court.”

“That’s when he became a potential threat,” Alter said. “We had league security, we had arena security, we had Indiana Fever, Chicago Sky security, Chicago Police Department, all of them were there. All of them acted immediately. All of them, you know, it was the quickest decision I’ve ever seen in someone being ejected from a game.”

Alter said the organization informed its security personnel once it learned Freedom was coming. The Sky did not prevent him from entering or remove him because of his shirt. Alter said staff members were instructed to ignore Freedom and not “take the bait.”

The players, however, were not told that Freedom would be present.

“Correct,” Alter said when asked whether security knew but the players did not. “You probably heard me say yesterday that that was something I regret not doing.”

Alter said learning about Freedom’s attendance earlier might have given the Sky more time to prepare and allowed the organization to notify its players. But he said it probably would not have changed the decision to allow Freedom inside the arena.

“We didn’t keep him from coming,” Alter said. “Despite all these things, despite the fact that we knew his intentions were not to just do no harm, we knew very well what his intentions were.”

The text exchange establishes that Freedom’s manager provided advance notice and that Pagliocca acknowledged it.

What the exchange does not establish is Freedom’s intent. Alter interpreted it as a warning of impending trouble. Freedom’s side presented it as a courtesy notice that demonstrated the group was not secretly entering the game. The language itself does not expressly resolve between those interpretations.