It’s not official, but it seems the WNBA is laundering their response to Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White declaring for the 2027 WNBA draft through friendly media.

And that response is “no, because reasons.”

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 next 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 decision came after Freedom was kicked out of Wintrust Arena on Sunday night over a verbal altercation with Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud.

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.

If you missed it, Enes Kanter Freedom was removed from the Indiana Fever at Chicago Sky game on Sunday night because diva princess Natasha Cloud decided to pick a fight and get him tossed out. According to witnesses, Cloud instigated the whole thing, and Freedom was the one who was removed from the arena.

BREAKING: Enes Kanter Freedom just told me what happened with him and Natasha Cloud that led to his ejection.

"Sophie Cunningham shot a three, and I put my hands up to celebrate… Natasha came back and started screaming and yelling and said, ‘She’s not gonna sleep with you."…

— Jackson Thompson (@JackThompsonFOX) August 24, 2026

Natasha Cloud decided this was her moment to stand up for trans rights, not address why she targeted Freedom.

Chicago Sky G Natasha Cloud just posted this on Threads after her confrontation with Enes Kanter Freedom: pic.twitter.com/tMkIH0xeFL

— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) August 24, 2026

The league, however, decided that Enes Kanter Freedom didn’t do anything wrong, and he will not be banned from WNBA games.

The WNBA has no plans to ban former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom from coming to games as a fan … even though he was ejected from a Chicago Sky game after a heated exchange with Natasha Cloud.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ … the plan inside the league is to try and move on and let the controversy die. We’re told the league felt a ban wasn’t warranted because Enes didn’t set foot on the court and he didn’t do anything else that was egregious.

So, this ends up being yet another case of a player picking on a fan, and the league just wants this whole issue to blow over and they can go back to the status quo ante. And in pursuit of that status quo ante, the league would like Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White to quietly fade away. Except, they can’t tell them WHY they need to go away, and that’s the problem, as OutKick writer Dan Zaksheske points out.

Front Office Sports reported Monday that unnamed league sources said Freedom and White, two former NBA players who have declared for the 2027 WNBA Draft, are ineligible.

The sources also called their declarations “simply publicity stunts” and said the league would not give oxygen to efforts intended to mock it or demean others.

Fine.

What makes them ineligible?

That’s the only question that matters, and the WNBA still won’t answer it.

The WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement says only players who are women are eligible to play in the league. As the FOS report itself acknowledges, the CBA does not define “woman” or include language about “gender identity” or “sex assigned at birth.”

That’s a problem for the WNBA, and it’s not a problem that was created by Freedom or White.

And neither Enes Kanter Freedom or Royce White is willing to accept a backdoor explanation.

https://twitter.com/Highway_30/status/2092043164081181074
White’s full post reads:

UPDATE: I have not received any official or unofficial communication back from the WNBA regarding my eligibility. I will say as a Black Trans lesbian, the rumors of denial for my multi-spirit existence are concerning. I’d also like to remind everyone there is a Trans genocide taking place right now in America. These kind of casual comments lead to violence and our deaths.

If the “sources” are true, I would like to see the league take immediate action to correct anybody who refuses to affirm my identity or use my pronouns pay/me. The WNBA leadership has to show up and 👏🏽 do 👏🏽 the 👏🏽 work. To tell a Black Trans woman she is not a woman or that the Trans experience is a “stunt”, is transphobic, bigoted and racist. It’s literally nazism and white supremacy. I think the commissioner may be demonstrating some white privilege, no? 🧔🏽‍♀️🏳️‍⚧️

Royce White for President
WNBA #LetRoyshaPlay

The WNBA is going to have to make their rules clear by saying them directly to White and Freedom, and if they don’t, this will likely end up in court. As I keep saying, this ends when the WNBA finds some balls and is able to define what a woman is, and is not. The fact that they keep dodging the only logical response to the question is crazy, and completely driven by fear and politics. White and Freedom have gone this far, and they aren’t going to quit until the league is willing to give them answers. I hope the league is enjoying all the publicity it is getting, because it isn’t going away.

Featured photo: Airman 1st Class Kerelin Molina, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped