Enes Kanter Freedom says the WNBA can bring his controversial draft effort to an immediate end by making its eligibility requirements more specific.
Freedom has declared for the 2027 WNBA Draft while challenging the league over how it defines who can participate. He says he would walk away if the rules explicitly restricted competition to biological females.
“If they come out tomorrow and say only biological females are eligible to play, I’d drop everything,” Kanter said. “Until then, I am eligible to play.”
The league’s collective bargaining agreement says players must be women, but Freedom argues that the publicly available language does not define the term clearly enough.
Reports have indicated that the WNBA considers both Freedom and former NBA player Royce White ineligible, something Freedom has dismissed as “fake news” because he says league officials have not communicated that position directly to him.
His campaign recently became more contentious at a Chicago Sky game against the Indiana Fever.
Freedom, wearing a shirt describing a woman as an “adult human female,” became involved in a heated verbal exchange with Natasha Cloud and was escorted from the building.
The Sky later barred him from Wintrust Arena.
Team owner Michael Alter said Freedom’s presence appeared intended to provoke, while the former NBA center has disputed that characterization and maintained that his conduct did not justify being removed.
Freedom has said the incident will not stop his plans.
He intends to continue pursuing his draft declaration unless the WNBA adopts the specific eligibility language he has requested.
For Freedom, the dispute therefore comes down to the wording of the rule: make biological sex an explicit requirement, he says, and his WNBA campaign is over.
