Questions over who qualifies to compete in the WNBA have moved to the center of a growing league controversy as its players union avoids taking an explicit position on sex-based eligibility, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert plans discussions on transgender participation and former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White claim they qualify for the 2027 draft.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The WNBA is facing mounting pressure to clarify who is eligible to compete in the women’s professional basketball league after two former NBA players declared themselves candidates for the 2027 draft, players publicly split over transgender participation and the league’s union issued a statement that did not directly answer whether eligibility is restricted by sex.
The dispute has intensified in recent weeks as Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham has become increasingly outspoken in favor of female-only athletic competition, while former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White have sought to test the league’s eligibility standards by publicly asserting that they qualify to enter the WNBA draft.
The controversy centers in part on language in the WNBA’s new collective bargaining agreement, which does not explicitly define player eligibility by sex or gender identity. The issue and the competing positions emerging around it were detailed by Just the News.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has now indicated that league officials will address the question. A memo she sent to teams Friday and obtained by ESPN and The Associated Press, as well as The Athletic, reportedly said a task force consisting of team presidents and general managers would discuss “transgender athlete participation in women’s basketball” during a previously scheduled meeting this week.
There are currently no known male players competing in the WNBA.
Engelbert said eligibility is governed by the collective bargaining agreement while emphasizing that “preserving the integrity of our game and ensuring fair competition” “will always remain among the league’s highest priorities.”
She also said she would “convene additional discussions and offer listening sessions” for league leadership.
An X post also highlighted the debate surrounding league eligibility.
The Women’s National Basketball Players Association has taken a different approach. In a statement issued by its “leadership” Friday, the union did not explicitly state whether it believes transgender women should qualify to compete in the WNBA or whether league participation should be restricted to female athletes.
Instead, the WNBPA said its members are united by values of “justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.”
“Hate, abuse, and demonization of any person or group of people, including transgender people, only fuel fear, division, and harm,” the union said.
It called on fans attending games to “notify security if you witness hateful, violent, or abusive behavior.”
“Online, report abusive posts and drown out the bots and bad actors,” the statement continued.
“We will continue to have hard conversations. But we will not be used as political pawns,” union leadership said.
The union also called on elected officials to “strengthen Title IX” without explaining precisely what policies it believes should be adopted.
That language comes as Education Secretary Linda McMahon has pledged to “protect Title IX” by excluding “biological males” from “women’s sports.”
The WNBPA’s current reluctance to directly define WNBA eligibility comes after years of advocacy by the organization and prominent league figures for transgender participation in women’s and girls’ athletics.
Nearly five years ago, the union joined athletes and organizations supporting transgender participation in girls’ high school sports.
WNBA player Layshia Clarendon also became a prominent voice in that debate. The league celebrated Clarendon when Clarendon came out as transgender in 2021 after having breast-removal surgery. Clarendon had previously identified as nonbinary.
Although the WNBA describes itself as a “women’s league,” Clarendon said women should be understood as “an umbrella term that would include trans and non-binary people who are marginalized by gender.”
Later that year, Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve and player Napheesa Collier pressed the NCAA to oppose state legislation intended to keep biological males from competing in girls’ sports.
The WNBPA subsequently joined an amicus brief supporting Connecticut’s transgender-inclusive high school athletic policy.
WNBA legend Sue Bird later joined Clarendon and other athletes in urging the NCAA not to “ban transgender women” “from NCAA women’s sports.”
The NCAA subsequently barred transgender women from women’s competition following President Donald Trump’s executive order addressing women’s sports. Another X post circulated in connection with the broader debate.
Debate over similar eligibility questions has also reached Congress. Supporters of female-only competition have disagreed about the Protect College Sports Act, which is not expected to receive a Senate vote before at least September.
Critics have characterized the legislation as a “Trojan horse for men in women’s college sports”, while others contend the measure would still permit litigation against the NCAA over its previous policy allowing transgender women to compete in women’s events or if such a policy were restored.
The professional basketball controversy accelerated after Cunningham became more vocal about restricting women’s sports to female athletes.
Cunningham’s position is not entirely new. She reposted an X message in 2022 criticizing transgender swimmer Lia Thomas after Thomas won a women’s championship.
Her position became much more prominent after an ESPN profile last month focused on her opposition to transgender women competing in women’s sports. She subsequently has been portrayed as helping force the eligibility issue into the WNBA spotlight.
The attention surrounding Cunningham has also coincided with controversy involving Fever teammate Caitlin Clark, who has been widely credited with attracting new audiences to the league.
Republican lawmakers have raised allegations that Clark was subjected to “racially motivated” hard fouls, while other criticism has focused on what was described as a no-call punch to Clark’s throat.
More recently, Chicago Sky player DiJonai Carrington was ejected from Saturday’s game after a clothesline foul against Cunningham. Carrington, who previously criticized Cunningham indirectly over her position on transgender athletes, posted “white privilege” on social media following the ejection.
The controversy has extended beyond players.
The WNBA fined and suspended Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton following her conduct during a home game against Cunningham’s Fever last month. Keaton was accused of cursing at teenage girls who were wearing XX-XY Athletics shirts supporting female-only sports and carrying a sign thanking Cunningham for her advocacy.
The Seattle Storm apologized for the exchange but did not identify the co-owner or publicly detail what was said.
Local journalist Brandi Kruse, who helped organize a Cunningham rally outside Climate Pledge Arena, identified Keaton as the person involved and alleged that security would not remove her despite complaints that she was harassing fans.
Video circulated of other fans heckling the girls, while Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling called them “heroines”.
An embedded version of the fan exchange was also included in reporting on the incident.
Amid those disputes, another unresolved eligibility case involves Julie Tétart, a transgender player competing in France’s second-tier women’s basketball league.
Both WNBA management and the players union have declined requests from OutKick seeking clarification about whether Tétart would qualify to play in the WNBA. The WNBA also did not answer Just the News when asked the same question.
“If they contact me, I won’t say no,” Tétart told OutKick, referring to the possibility of receiving an offer from the WNBA.
The absence of a definitive league answer has now prompted former NBA players to challenge the eligibility language themselves.
Freedom announced that he considers himself a “prospect” for the WNBA’s 2027 draft, citing what he described as the league’s eligibility “guidelines” concerning “self-identification and inclusion”.
The former NBA player, a Turkish-American human rights activist who adopted the name Freedom after becoming a U.S. citizen in 2021, later submitted a letter to the WNBA formally stating his intention to “enter the player pool” and asserting that he satisfies the league’s eligibility requirements.
In a video posted Monday, Freedom wore a shirt created by women’s sports advocate Kelsey Trainor carrying the message, “Invest in Women. Pay Women. Hire Women.”
An version of Freedom’s post also accompanied coverage of his declaration.
White followed with his own challenge hours later Friday.
White was selected in the first round of the NBA draft but played only three games during his career, with mental health problems affecting his time in professional basketball.
He later entered electoral politics, becoming the Minnesota Republican Party’s U.S. Senate nominee in 2024. White is again seeking the GOP Senate nomination this year in a primary field that includes former ESPN sideline reporter Michele Tafoya.
White said he “sometimes” identifies as a woman “for purposes of basketball,” and has at times appeared in media wearing a wig while otherwise not presenting as feminine.
Leo Terrell, senior counsel to Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, subsequently offered to represent White in litigation if the WNBA rejects his effort to participate.
White continued the argument on social media Monday after a critic told him to “commit to the bit” by taking cross-sex hormones, undergoing surgery and changing his name.
“Don’t tell me how to be a Black woman!” White responded. “The idea that a Trans woman has to subject herself to BIG PHARMA, is just another way for cis normative people to turn us into a commodity. […] Royce White for U.S. Senate MN 2026.”
A related X post was included with the coverage.
The WNBA and its leadership are confronting the eligibility dispute while Engelbert is already facing criticism over her handling of other cultural controversies and the promotion of the league’s leading players.
Sports media figure Bill Simmons predicted Engelbert would leave before next season, accusing the commissioner of repeatedly “stepping in bear traps” and saying there are “no adults in charge of the league.”
The players union, meanwhile, did not respond to questions from Just the News seeking clarification of its Friday statement, including why it specifically identified “transgender people” when discussing demonization but did not similarly identify advocates of female-only sports.
The union also did not explain what it meant by calling for Title IX to be strengthened, despite Title IX applying to educational programs, including college athletics, rather than professional sports.
The WNBA’s unresolved eligibility question has consequently become more difficult to separate from the league’s previous advocacy, current player disputes and the deliberate attempts by former NBA players to test the wording of its rules.
With Cunningham arguing publicly for female-only competition, the WNBPA defending transgender people without explicitly defining who qualifies for the league, and Freedom and White asserting that the existing standards make them eligible for the 2027 draft, Engelbert and league officials now face direct pressure to determine how WNBA eligibility will be defined.
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