The WNBA’s transgender eligibility debate was supposed to move toward clarity this week after a task force of team presidents and general managers met on Wednesday to discuss the issue that has gripped the community since July 21. However, the league, in its official statement, noted that eligibility questions are not affecting the WNBA, effectively denouncing former NBA player Royce White’s bid to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft. When asked on Free People Radio whether the situation could ultimately culminate in him playing in the WNBA, he doubled down on his controversial stance.
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“It better. Why wouldn’t they let me play? It’s completely bigoted to deny my trans existence,” White said, according to Polymarket Sports.
A WNBA spokesperson made the league’s stance clear after the Commissioner’s anti-hate task force met recently.
“There are no immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA, and we strongly denounce the bad-faith efforts to use these topics to demean or marginalize others.”
The 2026 Collective Bargaining Agreement signed in March this year currently states that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA.” But it does not publicly clarify whether that refers to sex assigned at birth or gender identity. And that lack of clarity has become central to Royce White’s declaration.
Former Houston Rockets star White had initially hinted at entering the draft, but Enes Kanter Freedom beat him to an official declaration on August 7.
“If simply declaring who you are is all that’s required, then I meet every single requirement necessary to compete in the WNBA,” Freedom posted on X on August 7.
So following in the footsteps of Freedom, Royce White also declared that he would seek to play in the WNBA next season.
“I’m transgender. I’m a woman. I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purpose of basketball, professional basketball,” White said in an interview with Fox News. “So I’ll be declaring for the WNBA draft in 2027 as well.”
With White, Freedom, and former NBA player Larry Sanders also now expressing his intentions to enter the WNBA, the league suddenly has three former NBA players looking to test the boundaries of its eligibility rules. However, the WNBA does not appear to be treating their declaration as an immediate matter of concern.
WNBA insider Khristina Williams recently reported that a league source opened up about the W’s stance on such declarations.
“Per league source, the WNBA is not taking declarations by former NBA players for the ‘27 WNBA Draft seriously. Source called them attempts to ‘sow division and chaos’ by ‘bad-faith actors.’ Nothing is imminent; league will follow its process and not let outside noise dictate it.”
But the controversy has also become part of White’s latest political push. After finishing third in the Minnesota Republican Senate primary on August 11 with 11.2% of the vote, he announced plans to launch a campaign for the 2028 U.S. presidency, where he tied his political ambitions to his WNBA pursuit, writing, “We win MVP of the WNBA and then head to the oval office.”
For now, the WNBA’s next move remains unclear. But with Royce White already raising the possibility of a legal battle, the league may eventually have to provide the eligibility clarity that Wednesday’s meeting failed to deliver.