Former congressman sends warning to WNBA over blocking male player: Get ready for court

Male basketball players looking to get into the WNBA Draft are hearing murmurs from around the league about their eligibility.

Two former NBA players, Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, have both declared they are ready to tie up their laces and play against women in 2027.

‘The WNBA should preserve all records in anticipation of litigation.’

After Freedom was ejected from a Chicago Sky vs. Indiana Fever game on Sunday though, sources from around the league have thrown a wrench in the players’ plans.

Without official WNBA comment, “multiple sources” told ESPN that both Freedom and White are not eligible to play in the WNBA despite declaring themselves to be eligible for the league’s draft.

Enter former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who has both revealed that he is legally representing White throughout the ordeal and sent the WNBA a warning about preserving all its records.

“The WNBA has not notified [White] or our legal team of any decision on draft eligibility, as is their standard practice and policy,” Gaetz wrote on X Monday. “The WNBA should preserve all records in anticipation of litigation.”

The WNBA’s official communications on White’s eligibility would likely become evidence in court should the fiasco go to trial.

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Attached to Gaetz’s message was video of White, wearing a wig, saying that it is “completely bigoted” of the WNBA to deny his “trans existence.”

White’s commentary on the subject included further mockery of the transgender movement. He stated earlier this month: “To continue to deny black transgender lesbians is tantamount to genocide.”

Freedom’s methods of protests have been more straight-faced and straightforward. In addition to wearing a shirt that read, “WOMAN noun. adult human female,” at the recent WNBA game, the 6’10” center simply said that the WNBA rulebook, as it exists, should mean he can play.

“If they don’t come up with a rule, then I am ready and prepared to play in May and just get ready for the draft in April,” Freedom told Fox News. “These are the rules that literally they put, so I’m just literally following their rules,” he added.

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Shelby Tauber/Bloomberg/Getty Images

While the aforementioned WNBA sources have put the former NBA players on notice, there has been no official league statements regarding male eligibility.

The WNBA did meet recently to discuss the issue but concluded there was “no immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA.”

The WNBA’s 2026 collective-bargaining agreement with its players says that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA,” but the league has so far not provided its definition of what a woman is.

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