Key Takeaways
- WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told Congress that Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White cannot enter the 2027 draft because “only women are eligible” and “the individuals…are both men.”
- Freedom challenged Engelbert’s authority to define his identity and questioned how the league determines who qualifies as a woman.
- The dispute follows Freedom’s removal and ban from Chicago Sky home games, his subsequent federal lawsuit, and a broader transgender-eligibility debate despite no known transgender woman having played in the WNBA.
The WNBA has confirmed to Congress that Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White are ineligible for the 2027 draft, and Commissioner Cathy Engelbert left little room for interpretation in her response.
Neither former NBA player is eligible because, according to Engelbert, they're both men.
"With respect to your questions regarding eligibility, only women are eligible to play in the WNBA and the individuals you cite in your letter are both men," Engelbert wrote in an Oct. 16 letter obtained by The New York Post.
The response came after Rep. Marlin Stutzman and four other Republican lawmakers demanded clarification of the league's eligibility requirements. Both Freedom and White announced plans to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft while claiming to identify as women, prompting lawmakers to challenge the league to explain its rules.
Engelbert's letter reaffirmed their ineligibility without providing the specific definition of "women" lawmakers requested.
And Freedom wasn't satisfied.
"WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has declared that I am a man. Who gave her the authority to decide who I am? Who gets to define my identity?" Freedom wrote on X.
He continued: "And how can the WNBA determine who is a man without explaining what qualifies someone as a woman?"
The dispute has now reached Congress, but it began with a controversy that consumed portions of the WNBA season despite no transgender woman being known to have played in the league.
Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham helped ignite the debate when she told ESPN she wanted to protect young girls from competing against "biological men." Freedom subsequently attended a Fever-Chicago Sky game on Aug. 23 wearing a shirt defining a woman as an "adult human female."
That appearance ended when Freedom was escorted from Wintrust Arena after a confrontation with Sky guard Natasha Cloud.
The Sky subsequently banned him from home games, with owner Michael Alter arguing that Freedom had violated the arena's fan conduct rules. Freedom disputed that account and filed a federal lawsuit alleging his removal violated his First Amendment rights.
Freedom, who averaged 11.2 points across 748 NBA appearances, has been out of the league since 2022. Neither player's professional basketball résumé changes the WNBA's eligibility determination.
The controversy has also received organized support beyond the basketball court. The conservative America First Policy Institute represents Freedom and supplied Engelbert's congressional response to several conservative outlets, including OutKick.
The WNBA's collective bargaining agreement states that "only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA," but it does not publicly set detailed transgender eligibility criteria.
Previously, the league condemned what it described as "bad-faith efforts" to marginalize others through the debate.
