NEW YORK — Former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White are ineligible for next year’s WNBA draft, according to a person familiar with the decision who spoke Monday to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The person did not provide a reason for the league’s decision.
Freedom and White had announced plans to enter the 2027 WNBA draft, but the league had not publicly commented on their eligibility.
The decision comes amid an ongoing debate over transgender participation in women’s sports. The WNBA has never had a transgender player.
The league’s collective bargaining agreement states that the WNBA is restricted to women but does not include more specific language addressing gender identity or sex assigned at birth. Freedom and White said they identified as women when they announced their plans to enter the draft.
Freedom, 34, played 11 NBA seasons and stood 6-foot-10 and 250 pounds. White, also 34, appeared in three NBA games.
Freedom recently drew attention at a WNBA game between the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky. Security escorted him from Wintrust Arena on Sunday after Sky guard Natasha Cloud confronted him late in the third quarter.
Freedom sat near the baseline wearing a black shirt that read, “WOMAN noun. adult human female.”
After Cloud scored with 1:22 remaining in the third quarter, she approached Freedom and yelled and pointed at him. Freedom stepped onto the court as security and several Sky players moved between them.
Security then escorted Freedom from the court area. He later spoke with police officers before leaving the arena.
“I just got kicked out of a @WNBA game for supporting WOMEN!” Freedom wrote on social media.
Cloud met with team and league security after the game but did not speak with reporters.
The incident followed broader debate within the WNBA over transgender participation. Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham said in an ESPN profile last month that she opposed transgender girls and women competing in women’s sports.
Freedom attended a small rally supporting Cunningham outside the arena before the game.