Two former NBA players who sought to enter the 2027 WNBA draft are not eligible to participate in the women’s basketball league, according to sources around the league on Monday.
The sources described the move as an effort to sow division within the WNBA and court attention, amid a nationwide firestorm over U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated efforts to ban transgender women from women’s sports. There are no active, openly transgender players in the WNBA, which does not currently have a specific, publicly available policy on transgender participation. The league is in ongoing conversations with stakeholders on the issue. The remarks prompted outcry from some longstanding fans of the league, who skew more politically liberal, while others rallied to Cunningham’s side, with demonstrations in her support popping up outside Fever games.
Enes Kanter Freedom, who played in the National Basketball Association for over a decade from 2011, and Royce White, who spent one season in the NBA, had each announced their intention to play in the league, claiming to be transgender women. Kanter Freedom said on social media on Sunday that he was ejected from a game between Chicago Sky and the Fever after getting into a verbal spat with 2022 assists leader Natasha Cloud.
