The WNBA Players Association has responded after former NBA center Enes Kanter Freedom publicly announced his intention to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft amid the ongoing debate surrounding transgender athletes in women's sports.
Freedom, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, announced on social media that he considers himself eligible to become a WNBA prospect and questioned how the league's eligibility standards would be applied.
"After careful consideration and reviewing the current eligibility guidelines, I'm officially declaring myself a WNBA prospect," Freedom wrote.
"If simply declaring who you are is all that's required, then I meet every single requirement necessary to compete in the WNBA."
WNBPA responds to Freedom
Following Freedom's announcement, the WNBPA released a statement stressing its commitment to protecting women's sports while rejecting attacks directed at transgender people.
"To everyone who loves this game: The WNBPA represents 200+ individual people with different lived experiences, cultures, lifestyles, and opinions," the statement read.
"We embrace justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Those are the values that unite this Union and allow it to protect women's sports while creating transformational change.
"Hate, abuse, and demonization of any person or group of people, including transgender people, only fuel fear, division, and harm. We will continue to have hard conversations. But we will not be used as political pawns."
The union's response came shortly after Freedom's announcement and amid increased discussion surrounding eligibility in women's professional basketball.
Another former NBA first-round pick follows Freedom
Freedom was not the only former NBA player to announce plans to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft.
Former Houston Rockets first-round pick Royce White also said he intends to declare, making his announcement as part of the same wider debate.
"I'm transgender. I'm a woman. I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for the purpose of basketball, professional basketball, so I'll be declaring for the WNBA Draft in 2027 as well," White said in an announcement posted on Fox News' social media.
"I think I'd be unstoppable. But I'm a team-first guy. I'm a pass-first kind of player. I do the little things. I led my team in all five major stat categories at Iowa State University, so I do a little bit of everything. I'll do whatever the coach needs me to do. I'll do whatever the girls need me to do...
"I think it's only fair," he added.
Freedom played 11 seasons in the NBA, appearing in 748 regular-season games for the Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks, Portland Trail Blazers and Boston Celtics. White, meanwhile, was selected No. 16 overall in the 2012 NBA Draft and appeared in three NBA games for the Sacramento Kings.