WNBA Shuts Down GOP Inquiry Over Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White: “Both Men”

Outgoing WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert responded earlier this month to a letter from Republican lawmakers who attempted to press the issue of two male ex-NBA players, Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, declaring their intent to be drafted in the women’s league. Both men had already been deemed ineligible in August, according to media reports.“With respect to your questions regarding eligibility, only women are eligible to play in the WNBA and the individuals you cite in your letter are both men,” Engelbert wrote in an October 16 letter provided to the Fox-owned media outlet OutKick, addressed to Indiana House Rep. Marlin Stutzman. The league’s eligibility policy currently states that “only players who are women” may be drafted.Stutzman posted the full text of Engelbert’s response on social media. “The WNBA will continue its efforts to ensure the safety, fair treatment, and well-being of our players and personnel, including working to address the significant amount of hate and vitriol directed at WNBA players online and on social media,” the commissioner concludes. The recent right-wing uproar around the WNBA’s eligibility policy was first sparked by Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham’s comments in a July ESPN profile about wanting to “protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men” — a framing that invoked anti-trans dogwhistles. The backlash to Cunningham’s remarks in turn led to scrutiny over the league’s eligibility policy, prompting Freedom and White to declare their intent to register for the draft in August. Later that month, league sources reportedly diagnosed the attempts as “publicity stunts” in comments to Front Office Sports, deeming the players ineligible.That hasn’t stopped Freedom, White, and a group of GOP lawmakers from continuing to press the issue. In September, Stutzman sent a letter to Engelbert demanding that the WNBA “ensure the Lea