{"id":511480,"date":"2026-08-25T09:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T07:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/?p=511480"},"modified":"2026-08-25T09:28:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T07:28:07","slug":"enes-kanter-freedom-and-royce-white-ruled-ineligible-for-2027-wnba-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/enes-kanter-freedom-and-royce-white-ruled-ineligible-for-2027-wnba-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White ruled ineligible for 2027 WNBA Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White will not be eligible to participate in the 2027 WNBA Draft, according to sources around the league cited by Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Both former NBA players had announced their intention to enter the WNBA Draft, stating that they are transgender women. Kanter Freedom played in the NBA for more than a decade beginning in 2011, while White spent one season in the league.<\/p>\n

Kanter Freedom and White become part of WNBA debate<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

According to sources cited by Reuters, the move was viewed within the league as an attempt to create division and attract attention at a time when transgender participation in women’s sports has become a major political and sporting issue in the United States.<\/p>\n

The WNBA currently does not have a specific, publicly available policy regarding transgender participation. The league remains in discussions with stakeholders on the issue.<\/p>\n

Sophie Cunningham controversy<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

The debate intensified following comments made by Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham in an ESPN interview.<\/p>\n

Cunningham said she wanted to protect young girls in locker rooms and in sports, including from having to compete against biological males.<\/p>\n

Her comments sparked a strong reaction among WNBA fans, with some criticizing her position while others rallied behind the Fever guard. Demonstrations supporting Cunningham have also taken place outside Fever games.<\/p>\n

WNBPA responds to the controversy<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

The WNBA Players Association recently addressed the broader debate, saying that its players would not be used as “political pawns.”<\/p>\n

The union also condemned hate, abuse and the demonization of any person or group, including transgender people, warning that such rhetoric fuels fear, division and harm.<\/p>\n

Kanter Freedom ejected during Sky-Fever game<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

The latest development comes days after Kanter Freedom was ejected from a game between the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever.<\/a><\/p>\n

Kanter Freedom said on social media that he was removed after a verbal altercation with Natasha Cloud. In an emailed response to Reuters, he said he had been supporting Cunningham when Cloud began “yapping and cursing” at him.<\/p>\n

Reuters said it was not immediately able to reach Royce White for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The two former NBA players had announced plans to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft. Sources cited by Reuters say they will not be eligible to participate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":511479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_spbk_hide_featured":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[399,403],"tags":[],"rumors":[],"typology":[],"posizionamento":[],"class_list":["post-511480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-wnba"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-25-alle-09.26.08.png","digistream_id":0,"digistream":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/145"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511480"},{"taxonomy":"rumors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rumors?post=511480"},{"taxonomy":"typology","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/typology?post=511480"},{"taxonomy":"posizionamento","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posizionamento?post=511480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}