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Former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White will not be eligible to play in the WNBA after both declared themselves women and eligible for the draft, league sources told Front Office Sports.
The recent declarations of Freedom and White are “simply publicity stunts” and the league is “not going to give oxygen to efforts designed to mock the league or use this topic to demean and marginalize others,” one league source said.
The WNBA “will not allow outside pressure or manufactured controversy to dictate league processes,” the source said.
The league will reportedly continue to discuss the topic, though it does not have any legitimate and immediate eligibility matters that require action.
The decision came after Freedom was kicked out was kicked out of Wintrust Arena for a verbal altercation with Chicago star Natasha Cloud on Sunday night.
The WNBA’s new collective bargaining agreement in Article XIII Section 1 (a), states: “Only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA.”
The CBA, agreed upon in March, does not include any language around gender identity or gender assigned at birth.
No known transgender woman has played in the WNBA.
Freedom, who played 11 seasons in the NBA, has turned to political activism in recent years.
He and White, a Republican political candidate for the U.S. Senate, declared the eligibility for the 2027 WNBA Draft earlier this month amid debates of transgender athletes in women’s sports.
It came after Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham voiced support for barring transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports in an ESPN article published in July, which sparked a larger conversation and pro and anti-trans rallies before games.
Freedom, who sat courtside at the Sky-Fever game Sunday night, got into a verbal altercation with Cloud during a timeout called in the third quarter.
Enes Kanter Freedom was removed from the arena after getting into an argument with Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud 😳
– he recently declared for the 2026 WNBA Draft after formerly playing in the NBA. pic.twitter.com/TMrrSlwsSA
Freedom was wearing a black T-shirt that read, “WOMAN noun. adult human female.”
Cloud, who’s vocal of her support of trans athletes in women’s sports, walked toward Freedom and shouted at him as he stood with his arms outstretched.
As he walked toward the court, Freedom was stopped by security and escorted out of the arena.
A spokesperson for Wintrust Arena told TMZ that “decisions regarding reprimanding or banning would be the purview of the WNBA.”
The league has not announced a ban on Freedom from attending future games as of Monday.
A Chicago PD spokesperson said there have been no reports filed regarding the incident, per TMZ.
“I just got kicked out of a @WNBA game for supporting WOMEN!” Freedom wrote on social media Sunday night. “Let that sink in, AMERICA!”
Cloud did not speak to the media after the Sky’s 113-90 loss to the Fever.
A Sky spokesperson told FOS that Cloud spoke to league and team security.
The WNBA released a statement after discussing transgender athletes and “the continued hate and vitriol directed at players online” in a meeting earlier this month.
“We will continue to engage all league stakeholders in the coming weeks and months,” the league said. “We will approach these important conversations thoughtfully and in alignment with the values of our league. There are no immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA, and we strongly denounce the bad-faith efforts to use these topics to demean or marginalize others.”
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