NEW YORK — Former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White will not be eligible to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft, according to multiple people familiar with the league’s position, adding a new chapter to a rapidly escalating debate over gender eligibility in professional basketball.
Neither the WNBA nor the players have publicly announced a formal eligibility ruling explaining why the two former NBA players would be barred. The Associated Press reported Monday that a person familiar with the decision confirmed they are not eligible, while ESPN and Yahoo Sports separately cited league sources reaching the same conclusion.
The development follows declarations by Kanter Freedom and White that they intended to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft after identifying as women. Their announcements thrust the league into a highly charged national debate over transgender participation in women’s sports.
What the WNBA rules actually say
The controversy is partly fueled by the wording of the WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement.
Article XIII, Section 1 of the reported 2026 CBA states that only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA. However, the agreement does not publicly provide a more detailed definition of the term “women” or spell out a transgender-specific eligibility procedure.
That distinction is important.
Kanter Freedom has argued that the league’s existing framework allows him to declare himself eligible. But other reporting has noted that simply declaring oneself for the draft does not automatically establish eligibility under the league’s governing rules.
The WNBA itself has previously pushed back against what it described as attempts to manufacture a transgender eligibility controversy. In a statement reported by the Associated Press, the league said there were no immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA and condemned what it characterized as “bad-faith” efforts to demean or marginalize people.
Who are Kanter Freedom and Royce White?
Kanter Freedom, 34, spent more than a decade in the NBA after being selected third overall by the Utah Jazz in the 2011 NBA Draft. He later played for several NBA teams before retiring from the league in 2022.
White was selected 16th overall by the Houston Rockets in the 2012 NBA Draft. Houston officially signed him that summer, although he never appeared in an NBA game for the Rockets and was later traded to Philadelphia.
Their WNBA declarations therefore represent something highly unusual: two former NBA players attempting to enter the women’s professional league after their NBA careers.
The controversy has moved beyond the draft
The dispute intensified over the weekend when Kanter Freedom was ejected from a WNBA game between the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever at Wintrust Arena.
Kanter Freedom was sitting courtside wearing a shirt that read, “WOMAN noun adult human female.” A verbal confrontation subsequently developed between him and Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud, with security eventually escorting him from the arena. ESPN reported that the WNBA has not announced plans to prevent him from attending future games.
Kanter Freedom later said he had been supporting Indiana’s Sophie Cunningham, whose previous comments about transgender participation in women’s sports had already triggered significant controversy.
WNBA faces a wider debate
The dispute comes as the WNBA confronts a broader conversation about transgender athletes, player safety, inclusion and competitive fairness.
The league has said it is continuing discussions with stakeholders. The Women’s National Basketball Players Association has also pushed back against efforts to turn players into political symbols, while condemning hate and abuse directed at transgender people.
As of the latest reporting, there has never been an openly transgender woman who was assigned male at birth on a WNBA roster. The league also has not published a comprehensive public policy specifically addressing transgender eligibility.
That leaves an important distinction in the latest development: league sources say Kanter Freedom and White are not eligible, but the WNBA has not publicly detailed the rule or process behind that determination.
For now, the 2027 WNBA Draft remains more than a year away — but the debate surrounding who qualifies to enter it is already becoming one of the league’s most closely watched controversies.
And with the league’s written eligibility language leaving questions unanswered, the next move could determine whether this dispute ends quietly — or becomes an even bigger battle over the future rules of women’s professional basketball.
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