Controversy Surrounds WNBA Draft Eligibility and Transgender Athlete Participation

Former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White are not eligible for the WNBA draft according to a source familiar with the decision. This information was shared with The Associated Press under anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the matter. Details on why the two men were deemed ineligible were not provided.

Both Freedom and White have expressed their intention to enter next year’s draft, yet the WNBA has not made any public announcements regarding their eligibility status. The league faces ongoing debates concerning the participation of transgender women, who are individuals assigned male at birth and transition to align with their gender identity. To date, the WNBA has not had such a player.

The collective bargaining agreement of the league states that the WNBA is restricted to women. However, the agreement lacks specific language regarding gender identity or sex assigned at birth. Upon declaring their draft intentions, Freedom and White identified as women. Freedom, standing at 6-foot-10 and weighing 250 pounds, played 11 seasons in the NBA, while White appeared in three NBA games.

Freedom was removed from Sunday night’s game between Indiana and Chicago after a confrontation with Sky guard Natasha Cloud late in the third quarter. Freedom sat along the baseline, wearing a black shirt that read “WOMAN noun. adult human female.” The incident followed a timeout called by the Fever after Cloud scored with 1:22 left in the third quarter.

“I just got kicked out of a @WNBA game for supporting WOMEN!” Freedom wrote on social media.

Cloud addressed Freedom while her team’s security intervened. Freedom was escorted from the court, stopping near the basket to discuss the situation with security. He spun around, holding his shirt out and encouraging crowd response as he exited.

Prior to leaving Wintrust Arena, Freedom spoke with police officers about the incident. Cloud later had meetings with team and league security but did not issue a statement to the media. Fever guard Sophie Cunningham previously shared opposition to transgender participation in women’s sports, adding to the league’s ongoing debates.