A single line in the WNBA’s new collective bargaining agreement is drawing fresh attention as the league moves toward its 2027 Draft. The rule says only players who are women are eligible to play in the league, but the agreement does not define the term “woman.”
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That wording has now become the basis for a wider challenge to the league’s eligibility rules. Former NBA center Enes Kanter Freedom said he has spoken with eight other professional players who are considering following him into the 2027 Draft. In a post on X, Freedom wrote, “So far, I’ve spoken with: 2 Former NBA players, 3 G-League players, 3 European players. They have all said that if the WNBA doesn’t change the rules, they’re ready to join the movement and are considering coming out as women and putting their names in the 2027 WNBA Draft.”
Freedom has not identified any of the eight players, and no credible news organization or independent source has verified his claim. None of the players has publicly come forward to confirm that they are considering entering the draft.
The eligibility language sits in Article XIII, Section 1(a) of the 2026 WNBA-WNBPA CBA. It states, “Only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA.” The 409-page agreement does not provide an explicit definition of “woman” in its definitions section or in Article XIII, nor does it spell out rules based on self-identification, sex assigned at birth or hormone levels.
The issue gained wider attention after Freedom and former NBA first-round pick Royce White announced plans to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft. White said he intends to pursue a roster spot with the Minnesota Lynx unless he is barred, while Freedom has described his declaration as a challenge to the league’s eligibility standards.
But neither declaration has been accepted by the WNBA as an official draft entry. Social media declarations do not place a player into the draft pool. The league’s Player Personnel Department must first review a prospect’s eligibility under the CBA before the player can be added to the official Draft Entrant List.
There has, however, been one additional public development. Former NBA first-round pick Larry Sanders has also expressed interest in joining Freedom and White’s WNBA draft challenge. That does not independently verify Freedom’s claim about the eight other players, but it shows the challenge has drawn at least some additional public interest.
The WNBA has since addressed the broader debate through its Anti-Hate Task Force. After the group’s August 12 meeting, the league said, “There are no immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA,” while adding that the discussion covered “ongoing discussions on transgender athletes” and “the continued hate and vitriol directed at players online.” The league said it would continue discussions with stakeholders.
The WNBA has not announced a change to Article XIII. The league also denounced what it called “bad-faith efforts to use these topics to demean or marginalize others.” Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has said eligibility is governed by the CBA, while the league’s current position is that there are no immediate eligibility issues affecting the WNBA.
The financial changes are significant, but they should not be confused with the reason behind Freedom’s latest claim. The new CBA sets the 2026 WNBA team salary cap at $7 million and the top individual salary at $1.4 million. Freedom has not said that the eight players he referenced are considering the WNBA because of those salaries.
The wider debate around gender eligibility had already drawn attention earlier in the summer after Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham discussed transgender participation in sports. Cunningham said, “I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.” Her comments added to the broader public discussion, but they were not a direct response to Freedom’s draft challenge.
A public declaration, however, does not automatically make someone a WNBA draft entrant. The league office reviews draft applications against the eligibility requirements in Article XIII. If an applicant does not meet those requirements, the league can reject the application before the player is added to the official draft pool.
That leaves the 2027 Draft as a possible point of scrutiny for the league’s eligibility rules, but Freedom and White cannot simply force their way into the draft pool. If either submits an application that the league rejects, any resulting dispute would have to follow the applicable legal process rather than automatically becoming a test on the basketball court. For now, the WNBA has made no change to its eligibility language, and Freedom’s claim about eight more players remains unverified.
The WNBPA has also pushed back against turning the issue into a political fight. In its August 7 statement, the union said, “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.” Any change to the eligibility standards would therefore have to be handled within the league’s collective bargaining framework.