Former NBA player Royce White declares himself eligible for WNBA Draft as a ‘sometimes’ transgender woman
“I’m transgender. I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purposes of basketball.”
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“I’m transgender. I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purposes of basketball.”
Former NBA player Royce White announced that he plans to declare for the 2027 WNBA Draft as transgender, following a similar announcement from former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom on Friday.
White said he plans to “sometimes” identify as transgender for the purposes of professional basketball. He is 6-foot-8 and was selected in the first round of the 2012 NBA Draft.
“I'm transgender. I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purposes of basketball,” White said in a Fox News interview. “So I’ll be declaring for the WNBA draft in 2027.”
https://twitter.com/tpostmillennial/status/2086128976771363239
White’s announcement is intended to draw attention to the issue of biological males competing in women’s sports. It also criticizes the WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement, which states that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA” but does not define what a woman is.
The conversation within the WNBA community about trans athletes has picked up in recent days, particularly after comments made by WNBA player Sophie Cunningham. Cunningham has been facing heat after she adamantly supported the protection of female athletes against biological males who claim to be women.
White has been outspoken on political issues, having previously been the Republican nominee for Senate in 2024 in Minnesota before losing to Senator Amy Klobuchar. He is currently seeking the Republican nomination in Minnesota again to fill Democratic Senator Tina Smith’s seat.
"I don’t want to be discriminated against,” he said. “I’m a young, black, hopefully United States senator that would like a fair chance to participate as a sometimes-identifying-as-a-transgender woman athlete.”
White’s announcement coincides with Enes Kanter Freedom’s announcement on Friday, who said he also intends to seek an opportunity to play in the WNBA. Freedom, a former NBA center, said his move was intended to challenge the lack of clear policies governing eligibility in the WNBA.
“If simply declaring who you are is all that’s required, then I meet every single requirement necessary to compete in the WNBA,” Freedom said. “I am simply asking that the current rules be applied equally to everyone.”
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