Royce White and Enes Kanter Freedom are testing one line in the WNBA’s contract
Royce White told Fox & Friends Weekend on Sunday that he plans to declare for the 2027 WNBA draft, describing himself as transgender while also saying he never actually believed he was a woman. The appearance expanded on a position he first stated on Friday, hours after Enes Kanter Freedom said he would enter the same draft.
“Right now I’m just having a blast in my feminine era,” White said, before adding that he has always trusted the science and thought he was a man his entire life. He said it would be fair for him to play alongside what he called his queens in the twilight of his athletic prime, a line that has circulated online in a slightly altered form.
The declaration itself came on Friday, in comments to Fox News Digital. “I’m transgender. I’m a woman. I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purpose of basketball, professional basketball, so I’ll be declaring for the WNBA Draft in 2027 as well,” he said. He framed the move as a challenge rather than a transition, arguing that the league should either let him in or say plainly that it will not.
Former NBA player Royce White appeared on Fox News to explain why he wants to play in the WNBA
“I’m just having a blast in my feminine era. I think it’s only fair I get a chance to play with some of my queens” pic.twitter.com/iafF2QhvoQ
— FearBuck (@FearedBuck) August 10, 2026
What the WNBA’s rulebook actually says about eligibility
Article XIII of the league’s 2026 collective bargaining agreement states that only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA, and it does not go further than that, of course, White’s position is that the sentence is the problem, and that he will withdraw only if the league issues a definitive statement defining the term. He has said he expects a legal fight otherwise.
EXCLUSIVE: Former NBA first-round pick Royce White says he’s declaring for the 2027 WNBA Draft, claiming he now identifies as transgender for the purpose of playing professional basketball.
The 6-foot-8 former Houston Rockets draft pick follows fellow former NBA player Enes… pic.twitter.com/yUI8NdoiaX
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 8, 2026
The league and the players have both responded without engaging the specifics. The WNBA said it would not be used as political pawns and indicated it is reviewing its approach to the question. The players association issued a statement supporting inclusion and rejecting the demonization of transgender people, while saying it would continue having difficult conversations.
The sequence began last month, when Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham told ESPN she did not believe girls and women should have to compete against biological males. Cunningham has since said she was accused of hating transgender people and that she never said anything of the kind. Freedom declared on Friday, White followed within hours, and the story moved from a policy argument to a pair of former NBA players applying to a league neither has any realistic path into, isn’t that a concern?
White was a first-round pick of the Houston Rockets in 2012 and played three NBA games, all with Sacramento in the 2013-14 season, after his career was slowed by generalized anxiety disorder. He is 35 and has not played professional basketball in years.
He is also a Republican candidate in Minnesota’s United States Senate primary, which is Tuesday.
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