Open letter to the Women’s National Basketball Players Association:
Maybe you’ve forgotten, but the first letter in WNBA is W, and the union that claims to represent its players is W.
Which stands for “Women’s.”
Simply put, the league was created to give female basketball players a professional league of their own — one in which they can compete for roster spots, contracts, playing time, endorsements, and championships.
By extension, the union was created to protect them. Protect their jobs. Protect their working conditions. Protect the opportunities they spent their lives earning.
Yet on one of the most consequential questions facing women’s athletics, where is the Women’s National Basketball Players Association?
Where is the unequivocal policy stating that the jobs reserved for female professional basketball players will remain reserved for female athletes?
Where is the union demanding clarity from the league? Where is the union standing up for the women whose dues finance its operations?
And why should those women have to wonder where their own union stands?
There is an unavoidable contradiction here.
You cannot credibly represent the employees of a women’s professional sports league while refusing to define who qualifies to compete in that women’s league.
The whole point of gender-specific sports is to recognize that physical differences between males and females can matter enormously in athletic competition.
If those categories have no meaningful boundary, then what exactly is the union protecting?
We all know the answer. As is too often true of unions representing workers in every economic sector, the WNBPA’s top priority is advancing a radically liberal agenda, even at the expense of its own members.
Every WNBA roster has a finite number of jobs, and every roster spot awarded to one player is unavailable to another. Every minute of playing time, every contract, and every opportunity affects somebody else’s career.
That makes eligibility a labor issue. And labor issues are supposed to be the union’s business.
Why shouldn’t this be one of them?
WNBA players deserve to know whether their union believes biological sex matters when determining eligibility for women’s professional basketball.
They deserve to know whether their union would object if a male athlete sought a WNBA roster spot.
They deserve to know what protections — if any — the union has sought to ensure that opportunities created specifically for female athletes remain available to female athletes.
Silence isn’t a policy. Ambiguity isn’t protection.
The WNBPA needs to answer some straightforward questions:
How does the union define eligibility for participation in women’s professional basketball?
Does the union support reserving WNBA roster positions for female athletes?
Has the union requested or negotiated protections concerning sex-based eligibility?
What would the union do if a player believed she had lost a roster spot, contract, playing time, or another employment opportunity because the league’s eligibility rules permitted a male athlete to compete in the women’s category?
What specific protections has the union established to defend the integrity of the female competitive category?
These shouldn’t be trick questions. They are fundamental to the union’s presumed reason for being.
The women of the WNBA worked extraordinarily hard to reach this level of play.
The union exists to represent its members, not a political movement that effectively undercuts their careers, their contracts, their roster spots, their opportunities, and their future.
Whatever position the union ultimately takes, its members deserve something better than evasion. They deserve a clear policy and an organization willing to defend it.
Tell your members where you stand. Explain exactly how you intend to protect the jobs and opportunities that women’s professional basketball was created to provide.
If the Women’s National Basketball Players Association cannot explain what makes women’s basketball women’s — and cannot promise to defend the women whose livelihoods depend upon that distinction — then its members are entitled to ask a much bigger question:
What, exactly, is their union for?
***
Aaron Withe is CEO of the Freedom Foundation.

Indiana Fever v Dallas Wings

The WNBPA Doesn’t Know Who It Represents

labor union

opinion

title ix

transgender in sports

wnba

women's sports

This article was written by Gus Wilson and published on <a href="https://sportandstate.com/">Sport &amp; State</a>, a new media company founded by Clay Travis that is built around sports, culture, original voices, and live conversation.
* * * * *
After the WNBA nearly spiraled out of control in the middle of its regular season, there may still be some hope for the future of the association.
Earlier this month, Cathy Engelbert announced she is retiring at the end of the year from her <a href="https://sportandstate.com/2026/09/04/cathy-engelbert-is-running-away-from-the-wnba-mess-but-damage-is-already-done/">disastrous tenure</a> as the WNBA commissioner. Whether it was the lack of leadership, her lack of control over the league, or the recent debacle of who should be allowed to play in the league following Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham’s harmless comments, Engelbert had many miscues along the way.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Cathy Englebert is “retiring” aka being fired. So the WNBA will have a new commissioner. Hopefully the new commissioner can tell us what a woman is.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://x.com/ClayTravis/status/2095892064445599835?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Here comes NBA commissioner Adam Silver to the rescue. To solve the problems, he went directly to the voice of reason for the latest drama.
Cunningham <a href="https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/49949851/sophie-cunningham-talked-adam-silver-next-wnba-commissioner">told</a> the media following a Fever practice that Silver reached out to her in regards to the opening at the position at the end of the year. Cunningham raved about his commitment and thought process over the league that he oversees as part of his duties running the NBA.
“I have talked to Adam Silver a couple times, and I think he’s a great guy,” Cunningham said. “He was very knowledgeable and full of wisdom, and so getting to talk to him and hear his perspective of how he approaches the NBA is huge, who he’s kind of looking for.”
“But I think he’s going to put someone in place who really wants to take our league to another level than it’s already at. Our league is booming, so why would we not [want] someone who’s going to make it even more booming?”
Silver talking to Cunningham is ideal for the future of the league. Clearly, she wants what is best for the league and his commitment to talk to a player who has been receiving backlash from players, coaches, and sports media alike for just speaking her mind and her beliefs. It gives hope that the league can stay afloat.
Cunningham’s comments also highlight where Engelbert went wrong during her time in charge, most notably when it comes to the player-to-commissioner relationship.
She included that she wants a “players-first commissioner” who wants a relationship with the players, not necessarily always having to side with them, but just wants to communicate with them. The Fever guard’s comments correlate directly to those of WNBA players Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart. In a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wnba/2026/07/21/wnba-all-star-2026-commissioner-engelbert/27801ea4-84eb-11f1-9cec-0fb26676f07e_story.html">story</a> with the Washington Post in July, Ionescu said she speaks to Silver more than Engelbert, and Stewart added there “was not much of a relationship” between players and the soon-to-be former commissioner.
Silver knows that Cunningham, being one of the faces of the league, should help set the foundation of what’s to come in the WNBA.

silver-cunningham-1536×864

Talking With Sophie Cunningham About WNBA Commish Shows NBA Commish Might Actually Get It

adam silver

cathy engelbert

sophie cunningham

sports

This article was written by Clay Travis and published on <a href="https://sportandstate.com/">Sport &amp; State</a>, a new media company founded by Travis that is built around sports, culture, original voices, and live conversation.
* * * * *
Lost amid all the controversy surrounding Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, two former NBA players who have declared themselves eligible for the 2027 WNBA Draft in April, is a complicating factor that may explain why the WNBA, while attempting to leak that Freedom and White are not eligible for the draft, hasn’t actually told us what a woman is for purposes of the league’s eligibility rules. The WNBA has allowed a woman who identifies as a man to play in the league and said she is eligible to play even though she now says she’s a he.
Meet Layshia Clarendon.
Clarendon played 11 seasons in the WNBA and remained eligible despite having top surgery — the removal of her breasts — and other so-called gender reassignment treatments in 2021. She retired from the WNBA in 2024.
In January of 2021, Clarendon <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CKpAwB5hYC8/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted on social media</a>, “It’s hard to put into words the feeling of seeing my chest for the first time free of breasts, seeing my chest the way I’ve always seen it, and feeling a sense of gender euphoria as opposed to gender dysphoria. Sighhh…freedom…freedom at last.”
<iframe id="instagram-embed-0" class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/CKpAwB5hYC8/embed/captioned/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=1080&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fsportandstate.com&amp;rp=%2F2026%2F08%2F27%2Fclay-travis-former-trans-player-layshia-clarendon-puts-wnba-in-huge-legal-mess%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A1038.0999999940395%2C%22ls%22%3A663.5999999940395%2C%22le%22%3A983.3000000119209%7D" height="1158" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-0" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe>
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert stated publicly at this time of Clarendon’s surgery: “We are so proud that Layshia is part of the WNBA and we know that their (Layshia uses they/them pronouns) voice and continued advocacy will not only support and help honor and uplift many other non-binary and trans people, but also encourage empathy and understanding for the community across all levels of sport.” The owner of the New York Liberty, Clarendon’s team at the time, Joseph Tsai, also said Layshia is “a proud embodiment of our belief that our strength lies in our truth and no one should live constrained by societal boundaries.”
Layshia has written, “Existing outside the binary for me is freedom. I’ve learned that my gender doesn’t fit into these molds that keep trying to hold it down and box it in. I know that my gender will keep evolving because we change and grow and shape shift and expand. I know that as Andrea Gibson says, my pronouns haven’t even been invented yet. I know that we all have masculinity and femininity inside of us and mine show up equally and wholly and fully.”
She says that her <a href="https://www.hercampus.com/culture/layshia-clarendon-wnba-adidas-trans-athletes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WNBA teammates helped her draw a mustache on her face so she would look more like a man</a>. “One of my teammates, before I had my little mustache, she helped me fill it in one day for media day with her eyebrow pen. She was like, ‘Oh, try this!’ So that was such a sweet, tender moment of a teammate just seeing you and affirming you in the same way someone will be filling in their eyebrows or mascara on their eyelashes.”
Clarendon says she eventually grew a mustache raising an intriguing question: Was she receiving testosterone treatments when this occurred? That seems likely. So in addition to allowing a woman who identified as a man to play basketball in the league, it appears likely the league permitted gender treatments, including testosterone, for a player. Elevated levels of testosterone are prohibited in most leagues, male and female, because they are considered performance enhancing.
Not surprisingly, ESPN, via a trans writer, no less, did a huge feature story on how courageous Clarendon was. The article was published in 2021. You should read it. It lauds Clarendon for leading her team in wearing “Black Trans Lives Matter” t-shirts and speaks about her political activism. <a href="https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/31681454/the-power-layshia-clarendon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN labeled Clarendon: The WNBA’s most influential player.</a> The article, which was written amidst the peak-woke sports era, praises Clarendon for her left wing political activism:
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“It was Clarendon’s idea to dedicate the 2020 season to the <a href="https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/29418977/wnba-players-wear-jerseys-names-women-killed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Say Her Name campaign</a>. When the WNBPA launched the social justice council to steer the players’ activism efforts, Clarendon spearheaded it. When an idea was pitched to put “Black Lives Matter” on the court, Clarendon drew rudimentary sketches of basketball courts in Microsoft Paint, brainstorming how to make the concept work.”
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
In the bubble, the social justice council hosted webinars with the African American Policy Forum; politician Stacey Abrams; Tamika Palmer, Breonna Taylor’s mother; and others. Clarendon hosted a conversation with Raquel Willis, a Black transgender writer and activist. Clarendon also lent their expertise to the “Vote Warnock” campaign — the players’ successful mission to <a href="https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/29732604/inside-wnba-kelly-loeffler-stalemate-give-somebody-go" target="_blank" rel="noopener">oust then-Atlanta Dream owner Kelly Loeffler</a> from the U.S. Senate as well as from the league.”
</blockquote>
Later the article continues the praise.
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“Holding a microphone on that opening night of the 2020 season, and about to speak to a national audience on TV, Clarendon had that familiar feeling of a heavy emotional anchor, tying their feet to this moment and giving them courage. “I felt like I was standing on holy ground,” Clarendon says.
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
With no notes, Clarendon said their names. Sandra Bland. Atatiana Jefferson. Dominique Rem’mie Fells. Breonna Taylor.”
</blockquote>
<a href="https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/31681454/the-power-layshia-clarendon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">You should go read the entire article for yourselves, honestly.</a>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">WNBA’s Big Legal Mess</h3>
But whatever you think of trans-related issues and far left-wing political activism in sports, the Clarendon story is a huge legal mess for the WNBA when it comes to establishing league eligibility rules. Clarendon is a woman who identifies as a man and the league allowed her to play, while receiving gender change treatments — likely including testosterone treatments — and referring to her as him in all league press releases, guidebooks, and game notes.
If the league truly believes that gender is malleable, the WNBA has already allowed a man to play in the league.
In order to exclude Freedom and White, the league would have to argue Layshia Clarendon wasn’t actually a man, which directly contradicts the public statements the league has already made celebrating her transition to a man.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://x.com/ClayTravis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ClayTravis</a> talks WNBA and Enes Kanter Freedom with <a href="https://x.com/seanhannity?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@seanhannity</a>. <a href="https://t.co/EwYa8IxKQI">pic.twitter.com/EwYa8IxKQI</a>
— The Clay Travis &amp; Buck Sexton Show (@clayandbuck) <a href="https://x.com/clayandbuck/status/2092635574943277315?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 26, 2026</a></blockquote>
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So if they let a woman who identifies as a man play in the league, how can they now restrict Freedom and White, who say they are men identifying as women? In essence, how does the WNBA argue that only women are eligible to play in the league if they have already permitted, and publicly celebrated, a trans-man playing in the league?
Legally speaking, the WNBA could adopt a policy going forward that only players born as women are eligible, but that rule doesn’t exist today. Presently the WNBA eligibility guidelines say: “Only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA.” But the way the league applied its own rules permitted a woman who says she is a man to play. And any change to league eligibility rules today would be occurring after Freedom and White have already declared themselves eligible under the existing rules, likely rendering the eligibility changes unenforceable under the law.
Complicating this situation further, Clarendon didn’t just play as a man identifying as a woman; she was involved in drafting and ratifying the existing WNBA guidelines under the CBA adopted in 2020. This means not only did the WNBA allow her to play after receiving gender surgery, they had to examine the league rules to permit this to occur. Did they issue any legal guidance then? What did the WNBA’s lawyers say about Clarendon’s eligibility as a woman identifying as a man? All of that would be discoverable in a lawsuit in the event the league excluded Freedom and White from eligibility.
What’s more, we know about Clarendon because she spoke out about her gender transition surgery. Has anyone else in the WNBA had the same surgeries and not publicly disclosed them? Are other players currently receiving testosterone as part of a gender treatment plan? If so, are there records of this? Additionally, are there women who are not actually “women,” that is testing as XX chromosomes when assessed for gender? If so, this might explain why the WNBA has refused to adopt the same gender testing standards as the Women’s Tennis Association, the NCAA, and the International Olympic Committee, all of which require women actually be women to participate in their competitions.
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Where Does This Leave Us?</h3>
The WNBA, based on their treatment of Layshia Clarendon, is in a legally precarious position when it comes to what a woman is and how to define it in their league going forward. The league has four real options:
<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>Admit that Clarendon was never a man and was eligible to play in the league because she was born a woman, meaning the league must deny her transition to a man is legitimate and affirm that you are the gender on your birth certificate for purposes of league rules.</li>
<li>Admit women who identify as men and men who identify as women into the league, allowing gender identity to govern, not birth gender. This would allow Freedom and White and any other men who identify as women to play in the league.</li>
<li>Deny Freedom and White are actually women, meaning the WNBA knows what a woman is. But, again, the challenge here is they have allowed an avowed man to already play in the league and celebrated it.</li>
<li>Permit Freedom and White to be entered into the WNBA Draft, but have teams refuse to draft them. The problem here is Freedom and White could then immediately sue, alleging antitrust violations based on the conspired agreement of teams to not draft them, when the players would clearly be the best basketball players available to be drafted.</li>
</ol>
I think the WNBA is trapped here, their prior actions and public statements have created a legal minefield when it comes to player eligibility. In essence, if a woman pretending to be a man is eligible to play in the league, how they can exclude men pretending to be women?
Other lawyers can analyze this as well, I’d be genuinely curious to hear what they think too. But I believe the WNBA’s treatment of Layshia Clarendon and public pronouncements that a woman who identified as a man was actually a man creates huge legal obstacles for the WNBA going forward when it comes to keep Freedom and White out of the league.
If you’re wondering why the league has been so quiet when it comes to defining a woman, it may well be because the league’s own lawyers have looked at this issue and realized the WNBA is in a deep legal mess.
By publicly embracing a woman pretending to be a man and allowing her to play in the league for multiple years, they’ve opened the door to men identifying as women being eligible too.
Sport &amp; State has shared this article with WNBA officials requesting comment on all the issues raised here. We will update the article if we receive any comments. But don’t hold your breath.

Phoenix Mercury v Los Angeles Sparks

Clay Travis: Former Trans Player Layshia Clarendon Puts WNBA In Huge Legal Mess

enes kanter freedom

layshia clarendon

royce white

transgender athletes in women's sports

This article was written by Gus Wilson and published on <a href="https://sportandstate.com/">Sport &amp; State</a>, a new media company founded by Clay Travis that is built around sports, culture, original voices, and live conversation.
* * * * *
After struggling to define what a woman is, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has announced she will be leaving the league at the end of 2026.
Engelbert told the world in a press release last week that during the heat of the ongoing argument to determine who can play in the WOMEN’S National Basketball Association, she’s gone. After avoiding the question time and time again, it will officially be someone else’s problem at the start of the new year.
Despite the ongoing crisis her league is facing, Engelbert praised the current landscape of the league in her announcement, as she told Howard Megdal of The IX Sports, “I just feel like we’re in a really good place from a variety of perspectives on the league.”
That is CERTAINLY one way to put it.
In the same piece, Engelbert said that her five brothers were encouraging her to “get out of there” because of all the backlash she was facing from this situation alone.
It’s a little bit too late for that.
Engelbert’s miscues as the first “commissioner” in the league’s history have extended long beyond this year and are apparent throughout since she stepped into the role in 2019. With her “retirement” looming, let’s take a walk down memory lane to show where she went wrong.
<h3>The Problems Were Evident From The Start</h3>
During her first year running the league, the cracks were already showing in Engelbert’s armor.
The 2020 WNBA season was played inside the “COVID bubble” in Florida. Already, she was given a strange scenario where the pandemic forced basketball games to be played in a remote environment, but this wasn’t the issue.
Kelly Loeffler, the United States Administrator of the Small Business Administration and former Republican Senator from Georgia, was the co-owner of the Atlanta Dream at the time when she told Engelbert the league should not plaster “Black Lives Matter” across the association. A minor request turned to players calling for Loeffler’s head and to be fired from the team.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
WNBA Players Escalate Protest of Anti-BLM Team Owner, Kelly Loeffler
Loeffler’s WNBA team, the Atlanta Dream, demands she be ejected from the league. Members are outraged by her racist and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, among other controversies. <a href="https://t.co/Y8MNQbf74U">https://t.co/Y8MNQbf74U</a> via <a href="https://x.com/NYTimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NYTimes</a>
— Stephanie Kennedy (@WordswithSteph) <a href="https://x.com/WordswithSteph/status/1335840912950366209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 7, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Engelbert decided to let the players take over, and they wore shirts supporting the Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock in the 2021 Senate race against Loeffler. The commissioner just sat back and watched as Loeffler sold her stake in the team.
Following the shooting of Jacob Blake that same year, players began to protest the event and Engelbert finally stepped to the light and supported said players. These comments were made strictly to save her reputation. Former WNBA athlete Layshia Clarendon told ESPN that players had to force Engelbert to actually support them.
Yes, that is the same Layshia Clarendon that played in the WNBA as a trans-man as a member of the New York Liberty, throwing a wrench into the league’s argument that only women can play in the league.
Everything really does come full circle. Engelbert’s lack of control under a league she ran was glaring.
<h3>Engelbert’s Lack Of Grasp And Connection To The Association</h3>
That was only the beginning.
Fast forward past contract negotiations and not knowing how to pronounce coaches’ names to 2025. In the same article expressing Clarendon’s exposure of Engelbert being pushed around by players, superstar Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier blew up on the commissioner.
Collier, who is the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) vice president, called the league’s leadership the “worst in the world” because of her negligence when it came to what she was being paid to do. Other players and even the president of the WNBPA, Nneka Ogwumike, publicly agreed.
In 2026, Engelbert still lacks a true governing over the WNBA.
It’s evident when you look at the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark. Since she entered the league three years ago and took it by storm, Clark is constantly being attacked and downplayed by her peers. As of two months ago, Clark had drawn eight flagrant fouls in her first 72 games, which is far and away the most in comparison to the rest of the athletes. In June of this year, the Fever guard was struck in the throat by Phoenix Mercury player Alyssa Thomas in a blatantly violent act.
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The WNBA announced Alyssa Thomas has been suspended for one game after making “reckless contact” to Caitlin Clark’s throat on this play.
WNBA players continue to play very aggressively against Clark three years into her career. <a href="https://t.co/0pWiuI7SlE">pic.twitter.com/0pWiuI7SlE</a>
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) <a href="https://x.com/esidery/status/2070226611329282452?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 25, 2026</a></blockquote>
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To anyone who watches basketball, this surely results in a suspension of at least a game, whether it was intentional … or not.
Engelbert was not planning on punishing Thomas in the slightest until NBA commissioner Adam Silver had to step in and persuade her to do so. How do you run a league when you can’t even make the most simple decisions?
<h3>Who Can Play In The League</h3>
The breaking point in Engelbert’s tenure is one that everyone is familiar with now. Sophie Cunningham voicing her opinion on biological men in a women’s locker room set the league on fire. Coaches and players alike vehemently disagreed with the Fever guard, some in ways more than just a verbal pushback.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
DiJonai Carrington assessed a Flagrant 2 and ejected after this hard foul on Sophie Cunningham 😳 <a href="https://t.co/1AebZMgGUi">pic.twitter.com/1AebZMgGUi</a>
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) <a href="https://x.com/LegionHoops/status/2086181936805109777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Former NBA players Royce White and Enes Kanter Freedom then declared for the 2027 WNBA Draft after coming out and telling the world they identified as women. According to stances from players and coaches from around the league, they should be deemed eligible because of how they identify, right?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://x.com/EnesFreedom?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EnesFreedom</a> to <a href="https://x.com/ClayTravis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ClayTravis</a> on whether the WNBA would become the G league if men are allowed to play.
FREEDOM: &#8220;All they have to do is just go out there and say, I identify as a woman, and they will be making $1.4 million in the WNBA. Trust me, there are many players ready to… <a href="https://t.co/kQjBnvcg71">pic.twitter.com/kQjBnvcg71</a>
— The Clay Travis &amp; Buck Sexton Show (@clayandbuck) <a href="https://x.com/clayandbuck/status/2092315180881285587?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Wrong. The league told White and Freedom they were not eligible for the draft, according to sources around the league. Why not? They had a woman identifying as a man play in the league five years prior in Clarendon.
There was no continuity based on past players and the stances of current players on the matter, but Engelbert didn’t say a word.
The commissioner then decided to hold a league meeting with owners and general managers to discuss biological men competing in the WNBA. Finally, a conclusion was going to be made and everyone would get an answer on the league’s next move.
Actually, the complete opposite happened. Engelbert decided on nothing, pushing the decision further down the line.
Three weeks later, she announces her retirement. The inability to make a decision on what should be a simple yes or no was the writing on the wall that her time as a commissioner would and should be coming to an end.

AT&T WNBA All-Star Game 2026

Cathy Engelbert Is Running Away From The WNBA Mess, But Damage Is Already Done

caitlin clark

kelly loeffler

This article was written by Karen Crouse and published on <a href="https://sportandstate.com/">Sport &amp; State</a>, a new media company founded by Clay Travis that is built around sports, culture, original voices, and live conversation.
* * * * *
<blockquote>WANTED – An enterprising and energetic go-getter with a persuasive and positive communication style to lead a professional women’s sports organization that is at an inflection point. Must be conversant in basketball. A background in marketing, law or entertainment is a plus. Qualified candidates should contact Adam Silver at NBA headquarters.</blockquote>
If it seems like a tall order to fill, WNBA fans take heart. Another long-standing women’s sports organization embarked upon its search for a visionary 17 years ago and made an inspired choice that set it on an ascendant arc for the next decade.
The LPGA’s hiring in 2009 of Mike Whan, who had been a marketing executive for equipment in golf and hockey, with no experience working for a professional sports league, was an outside-the-box move that paid off handsomely. Whan was a consensus builder who succeeded a woman whose failures in leadership proved factious.
Whan was able to turn an organization that, as he told ESPN in 2015, “spent way too much time thinking about us,” into a culture that understood the best outcomes for players individually were achieved through a collective focus outward, on their sponsors and fans and media partners.
The WNBA is in sore need of someone like that to replace Cathy Engelbert, who announced last week that she’s stepping down as the WNBA commissioner at the end of the year. While the league realized the two main goals she laid out at the start of her seven-year tenure — expansion and financial growth that resulted in the first seven-figure player salaries and huge gains in franchise valuations — her legacy is mixed. Engelbert never really won the trust of the players, and she will be remembered for her failure to meaningfully address racial disharmony within her ranks or answer the question of how the league defines a woman.
If the WNBA wants to continue the momentum supercharged by the 2024 arrival in the league of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese and the revelatory rookie debut this season of the Minnesota Lynx’s Olivia Miles, its next CEO must be the grownup in the room, someone willing to be their best boss and not their best buddy.
As holds true for the LPGA, the greatest asset of the WNBA — its diversity and inclusion and global representation — can also be its biggest stressor. Would Engelbert have struggled in 2026 to define who is eligible to play in the preeminent women’s basketball 
professional league if she hadn’t offered her full-throated support in 2021 of Layshia Clarendon as Clarendon underwent various treatments to transition to a man while playing for the New York Liberty?
Cheering the active presence in the league of a player who identifies as a man created unintended — but not unforeseen — consequences, most notably the former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom, Larry Sanders and Royce White declaring for the 2027 WNBA Draft. A pragmatist with a long-term vision would have recognized what a self-appointed advocate who couldn’t see past their virtue could not, that the road to eligibility rules hell is paved with good intentions.
Before Engelbert, there was Carolyn Bivens, whose stewardship of the oldest continuing women’s professional sports organization in the United States, the LPGA, was also derailed by her inability to connect with the players or diplomatically respond to unique cultural challenges.
Bivens alienated a burgeoning South Korean contingent in the summer of 2008 when she proposed an English language-proficiency policy, which would have required foreign-born players to be able to speak passable English by the end of their second year on Tour or face possible suspension.
At the time of her pronouncement, 120 players, half the tour’s membership, were from outside the United States, including 45 from South Korea, four of whom finished in the top 11 on the Tour’s year-end money list. Another, Jiyai Shin, a non-LPGA member, won three events, including a major.
When the details of the policy were leaked, the criticism from players, civil rights groups, and lawmakers came fast and furious, causing Bivens to back down and put forth a punishment-free program to be adopted in its place.
But Bivens went a step further in her advocacy, saying she wanted to help assimilate the South Korean players into American culture and emancipate them from what she characterized as overbearing fathers. Forcing the players to learn English by threatening their livelihoods if they did not was a means to that end, she explained.
“The language is part of the control the parents have over their young daughters,” Bivens told me in a 2008 interview. “If they don’t even know survival English, they’re totally dependent on the dad.”
Cheering the absence of parents in the golfing lives of the South Korean players on the Tour created unintended — but not unforeseen — consequences, notably turning a language issue into a referendum on Western vs. Eastern culture.
In July of 2009, Bivens received a letter signed by several prominent players asking for her resignation. The veteran Juli Inkster, summing up the sorry state of affairs, told Golf Digest, “We need you guys to start writing about our golf instead of all this 
other crap that’s going on.”
Substitute basketball for golf and the same sentiment, I’m certain, runs rampant right now through the WNBA. The next commissioner can shift the focus away from the culture wars and back to the dynamic brand of basketball that should be the league’s calling card. But only if the league’s next leader is an inspired choice.

Untitled design – 2026-09-09T073848.082

Here’s What The WNBA Can Learn From The LPGA In Choosing Its Next Commissioner

lpga

Cathy Engelbert will retire at the end of the year after seven years as WNBA commissioner. In corporate America, “stepping down” and “retiring” are the polite words C-suiters get when everyone already knows what happened: the powers that be say it’s time to go. In this case, Engelbert reports to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. He likely pulled the trigger, with pressure from the Board of Governors for the league. But who knows for sure.
She is the CEO of this league and has been for seven years. Her job is revenue growth, team expansion, labor deals with players (the Collective Bargaining Agreement, or CBA), player safety, player travel, scheduling for the league and games, and daily operations.
To be clear: the league grew on her watch. It did not grow because of her. In fact, it seems to have grown in spite of her.
For two years, the WNBA has filled arenas and drawn unprecedented viewership. Games involving the Indiana Fever — and therefore Caitlin Clark — do the work. Those games sell the tickets and pull the ratings. Clark’s jersey sits with the top-selling NBA jerseys in the country. I have been to three Fever games, none of them in Indianapolis. Number 22 is the only jersey that actually pops in the stands. Little girls wear it. Adults wear it. It is everywhere.
Engelbert’s failure was not seeing that and running toward it. A commissioner paid to grow a product is supposed to put what people actually want at the center of the strategy. She did the opposite. She would not lead with Clark because too many players resent that Clark is the star, and she did not want to make the locker room mad. That is not leadership. That is a fiduciary abdication. She is paid nearly $3 million a year — compensation clearly benchmarked to her Deloitte CEO years, where she was paid the same — to make the hard calls.
For most of its history, this league never broke even. Three million dollars is a lot more than a participation trophy. And a lot more than this league could afford to pay her. And certainly way more than a leader who fails to actually lead deserves.
She also failed to protect the player driving the business. Clark has been targeted with excessive physicality. The league office&#8217;s response has been weak officiating and weaker punishment. The pile-ons keep happening, and the accountability never shows up.
And still the players dislike her anyway, even though her weakness on Clark is seemingly to satisfy the players’ resentment towards No. 22.
Napheesa Collier said the league has “the worst leadership in the world” — tone-deaf, obsessed with control instead of athletes, unwilling to fix persistent refereeing problems. Collier said Engelbert told her young stars like Clark should be “on their knees” with gratitude. Engelbert denies it. But it sounds exactly like something a certain kind of CEO says: employees should be grateful they have jobs! All while the people at the top take the bonuses and stock payouts and congratulate themselves for their genius.
I believe Collier. I’ve seen it a thousand times from a gazillion C-suiters who think they are a gift to corporate America and the place couldn’t survive without them.
All this weakness to appease players who don’t want Clark as the face of the league — and who cannot stand Engelbert anyway.
Perhaps just take a stand and do the right thing. If you’re disliked, at least be able to look yourself in the mirror. Grow a spine. If she did do the right thing — or anything resembling a decision — she just might have made a difference, and the players might have come around. No one respects weakness.
And then, there is the W. In the most obvious cultural moment for women’s sports in decades, Engelbert would not define what the W stands for. Instead, she met with league leaders and said, “We’ll engage key stakeholders,” because apparently it’s too hard and nuanced to define the W in the league’s actual name.
Afraid of players. Afraid of the leftie fans she imagines will revolt. Failing to lead, again.
The World Tennis Association drew a line. The league set a clear boundary for women’s tennis. The players largely supported it. And the sport moved on. There might be a week of noise, then a women’s league that is actually for women would go forward.
That is what the $3 million is for: do the hard thing.
Engelbert came from Deloitte. Consulting firms specialize in never quite deciding. Fancy PowerPoint decks. Stakeholder engagement. Recommendations that, if they work, belong to the consultant and, if they fail, belong to the client who “didn’t execute.” Either way, they get hired again.
That is what Engelbert’s WNBA tenure looked like: paper, process, no spine, no decisions.
No vision.
And the league grew anyway. No thanks to Cathy. All thanks to Caitlin.
***
This is republished with permission from the author. The original can be found <a href="https://jennifersey.substack.com/p/wnba-commissioner-cathy-engelbert">here</a>. Subscribe to Sey Everything <a href="https://jennifersey.substack.com/">here</a>.
Jennifer Sey is the CEO of XX-XY Athletics. She is an author, filmmaker, and retired national champion gymnast.

Indiana Fever v Toronto Tempo

How Caitlin Clark Built The WNBA And Cathy Engelbert Failed It

indiana fever

napheesa collier

Cathy Engelbert announced that she will step down as WNBA commissioner at the end of the calendar year as the league remains mired in controversy over transgender participation in women&#8217;s sports.
Engelbert told the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/engelbert-retiring-wnba-commissioner-1cdfcb8a9839e9b84257e68e0791fa46">Associated Press</a> in an interview that she was not pressured to step down by the NBA or WNBA stakeholders, saying the decision was her own. 
“When I first came to the league, I intended to do this for 3½ years,” she said. “The 7½ years exceeded that time. This is a really good time given the financial transformation journey we’ve been on. Getting the collective bargaining agreement done, getting a long-term media rights deal done, getting expansion done.” 
“It’s a good time to hand it off to the next leader to take the ‘W’ into a better phase,” she added. “I’m proud of the team we built and everything we accomplished. A leader knows when it’s time to drop the mic and move on after building a powerhouse team in the league office.”
Engelbert also doubled down on the league’s handling of the transgender debate that has plagued the season, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/engelbert-retiring-wnba-commissioner-1cdfcb8a9839e9b84257e68e0791fa46">maintaining</a> that there are “no current eligibility issues in the WNBA.”
The controversy intensified after former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-nba-player-declares-for-wnba-draft?author=Drew+Berkemeyer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Former+NBA+Player+Declares+For+WNBA+Draft">declared </a>themselves women and eligible for the 2027 WNBA Draft in an effort to challenge the league&#8217;s definition of a woman. The league&#8217;s collective bargaining agreement states that only women can play in the league, but it does not explicitly define the term or explain how the league determines eligibility. 
In August, the WNBA held a meeting involving team presidents and general managers to discuss how to define a woman. The league could not reach an agreement, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wnba-finishes-meeting-on-transgender-athletes-decides-nothing?author=Gus+Wilson&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=WNBA+Finishes+Meeting+On+Transgender+Athletes%2C+Decides+Nothing">reported</a>.
“Today’s meeting covered a wide range of topics, including ongoing discussions on transgender athletes and the continued hate and vitriol directed at players online. We will continue to engage all league stakeholders in the coming weeks and months,” a WNBA spokesman said in a statement obtained by The Daily Wire. “We will approach these important conversations thoughtfully and in alignment with the values of our league. 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.”
Engelbert says she retires knowing the best is yet to come for the league. “I retire knowing we have built something bigger, stronger and more enduring than we could have imagined. I am grateful to the WNBA and NBA team owners and staff, players, investors, fans and the powerhouse league office staff, who believed in what this league could become. I retire with immense gratitude and tremendous optimism for the future of the WNBA, with the best yet to come.”

2024 WNBA Draft

Major Change Coming To WNBA As Gender Debate Rages On

WNBA Commissioner Heads For The Exit As League Fails To Determine What A Woman Is

For nearly 30 years, the WNBA has operated under the once-unremarkable assumption that the “W” in its name meant something. But in our enlightened, post-biological era, the Women’s National Basketball Association has found itself in a peculiar existential crisis: What, indeed, is the W?
Instead of simply stating its position, the WNBA has presented what could best be described as a masterclass in semantic evasion.
<a href="https://www.wnbpa.com/_files/ugd/8121a3_675911316ca142178932adc1e56519ac.pdf">Article XIII</a> of the league’s collective bargaining agreement states that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA.” Simple enough. Unfortunately, the agreement never explains what qualifies someone as a woman. Anatomy? Chromosomes? Hormone levels? Gender identity? Jar-opening ability? Throw-pillow-to-couch ratio? The league has yet to say.
And so the WNBA finds itself in the remarkable position of maintaining a women-only professional sports league while refusing to clearly define the one characteristic every player is required to possess.
Cue the mischief-makers with a point.
Former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White decided to stress-test the league’s eligibility criteria and both announced that they identify as women and intend to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft. <a href="https://x.com/EnesFreedom/status/2085772139869696032">Freedom’s</a> argument was straightforward: &#8220;If simply declaring who you are is all that’s required, then I meet every single requirement necessary to compete in the WNBA.&#8221; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/yeidadprops/videos/im-transgender-im-a-woman-i-identify-as-sometimes-identifying-as-a-woman-for-pur/2473553663151419/">White</a> followed suit, announcing, &#8220;I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purposes of basketball … so I&#8217;ll be declaring for the WNBA.”
The WNBA, understandably, would prefer not to RSVP to this particular circus. Representatives have dismissed the declarations as “<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/wnba/2026/08/24/enes-kanter-wnba-draft-eligibility-royce-white/91446929007/">publicity stunts</a>” and declined to be dragged into what they see as an ideological spectacle. But dismissing the stunt doesn’t resolve the question the stunt was designed to expose.
If Freedom and White are not women for the purposes of the WNBA, then there must be some objective criterion by which the league knows that. And if such a criterion exists, it shouldn’t require Sherlock Holmes, three philosophers, and a team of lawyers to locate it.
Because definitions still matter, even when they become politically inconvenient.
This debacle is the fruit of years of indulging the “your truth” and “my truth” language so long as the consequences are mostly inconsequential. For example, your coworker’s “truth” may be that he’s a gifted singer, while the rest of the team considers his karaoke performance a violation of the Geneva Convention. Civilization continues.
But shared institutions require shared definitions and shared standards by which they are evaluated.
A society can entertain one person insisting “up is down” while another insists “down is up” right up until both approach a staircase. That is why the question popularized by Matt Walsh’s 2022 documentary “What Is a Woman?” remains so culturally explosive. The difficulty isn’t that humans spent several thousand years unable to distinguish men from women until documentary filmmakers arrived. The difficulty is that answering the question clearly forces us to confront whether biological categories describe something objectively real or whether individual identity can override them.
Freedom and White have simply transported that philosophical dispute onto a basketball court, where abstractions suddenly acquire height, weight, muscle mass, eligibility requirements, and the occasional jump shot.
The WNBA now has to decide where it plants its flag: biology or self-identification? Reality or ideology? There is no neutral position hiding comfortably between the two. If personal declaration determines who a woman is, the league needs to explain why Freedom and White don&#8217;t qualify. If biological sex determines eligibility, it needs to say so. Refusing to answer may postpone the controversy, but not the contradiction.
Of course, taking a clear position carries a cost. But the league’s reluctance reflects a broader cultural problem: definitions draw boundaries, boundaries necessarily exclude, and “exclusion” now ranks somewhere between using a plastic straw and murder in the modern American list of cardinal sins.
This is how words like “inclusion” and “tolerance” mutate into something much stranger. Instead of meaning, “I will treat you with dignity even though I disagree with you,” tolerance begins requiring everyone else to affirm your description of reality. And once institutions accept that bargain, definitions become dangerous things.
Perhaps that explains why the WNBA reportedly doesn&#8217;t want to “<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/wnba/2026/08/24/enes-kanter-wnba-draft-eligibility-royce-white/91446929007/">give oxygen</a>” to Freedom and White’s stunt. But oxygen is not the problem. Reality does not suffocate when we refuse to discuss it.
The WNBA can decline the interview, ignore the stunt, avoid the politics, and leave “woman” conspicuously undefined in its eligibility rules. What it cannot do is operate a professional league exclusively for women without eventually deciding what the word means.
***
Phoenix Hayes is coauthor of “<a href="https://thewaronreality.com/">The War on Reality: Recovering Truth in a World that Celebrates Lies</a>,” alongside Frank Turek. She equips Christians to think clearly about culture and politics while defending their faith.

WNBA: AUG 23 Indiana Fever at Chicago Sky

Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes: Will A Man Be The WNBA Rookie Of The Year?

gender identity

Chicago Sky owner Michael Alter doubled down on his decision to bar Enes Kanter Freedom from future WNBA games at Wintrust Arena, claiming the former NBA player was no more entitled to a warning than someone who would &#8220;shoot a gun at someone.&#8221;
Alter told OutKick that Freedom had been identified as a threat when he stood up and approached the court, hands raised — at Sunday&#8217;s game featuring the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky — in response to comments shouted at him by Sky guard Natasha Cloud. He went on to suggest that Freedom had not been given a &#8220;warning&#8221; before he was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/enes-kanter-freedom-banned-from-chicago-sky-home-games-as-potential-threat">ejected from the game</a> because the threat he represented was so serious.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Chicago Sky owner Michael Alter says Enes Kanter Freedom became a “potential threat” when he stepped toward the court, defending the decision to eject him without warning.
Asked why Freedom wasn’t warned first, Alter compared it to shooting a gun: “Certain threats don’t get… <a href="https://t.co/95l3PP8Iir">pic.twitter.com/95l3PP8Iir</a>
— OutKick (@Outkick) <a href="https://x.com/Outkick/status/2092738568309682530?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 26, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;He wasn’t given a warning because certain threats don’t get warnings. He was given a lot of leeway, as I was saying, he was sitting there and he was trash talking her and all that, so he was certainly given leeway, but at a certain point, when somebody — I mean, to use an extreme example, when you shoot a gun at someone, you don’t get a warning, ‘Don’t do that again.’ Your action doesn’t deserve a warning. You take action that becomes a threat, you don’t get a warning,&#8221; Alter said.
Freedom responded to the wild comparison, saying of Alter, &#8220;I mean, he needs to check himself.&#8221;
The former NBA player — who has declared for the 2027 WNBA draft based on the league&#8217;s vague guidelines regarding gender identification — said he may pursue legal action against the team and its owner.
&#8220;I’m not talking about against the WNBA, but I think against Michael Alter and the Chicago Sky for sure. Like, I don’t think they know what they’re talking about,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Me and my legal team will definitely be taking actions against Chicago Sky and Michael Alter.&#8221;
Freedom said he was at the game to support Fever shooting guard Sophie Cunningham, whom he calls a friend, who has been the target of harassment since she went public with her support for biological women and girls in athletics.

Indiana Fever v Chicago Sky

WNBA Owner Compares Enes Kanter Freedom To Shooting A Gun

WNBA Owner Claims Enes Kanter Freedom Posed Threat Equal To Firing A Gun

chicago sky

michael alter

natasha cloud

Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom has been banned from future Chicago Sky home games after a confrontation with guard Natasha Cloud led to his ejection from Sunday&#8217;s game.
Sky owner Michael Alter told local reporters on Tuesday that Freedom would not be allowed to attend the team&#8217;s games at Chicago&#8217;s Wintrust Arena unless he was first &#8220;able to prove to our satisfaction that he is able to abide by our rules without being a potential threat.&#8221;
&#8220;He has demonstrated to us, unequivocally, that he has the potential to be a threat,&#8221; Alter said.
&#8220;The fact that we&#8217;re having this conversation to me is just really sad,&#8221; Alter continued. &#8220;It&#8217;s a shame that we&#8217;re spending as much time as we are on this and not the wonderful things that are happening in our league — or even some of the not-so-wonderful things, like the Sky not making the playoffs for the third year in a row. I&#8217;m sure those are the things we should be talking about.&#8221;
Alter accused Freedom of attending the game to provoke a reaction and attract attention.
&#8220;It was pretty clear to us that his purpose of coming here was trying to be provocative, to see how much attention he could get and stir up,&#8221; Alter said.
Alter <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-sky/2026/08/25/sky-ban-enes-kanter-freedom-from-games-according-to-principal-owner-michael-alter">added</a> that he interviewed people seated near Freedom who told him that Freedom initiated the exchange by directing basketball-related trash talk at Cloud.
Freedom, who attended the game wearing a shirt reading &#8220;WOMAN. Noun. Adult human female,&#8221; claimed that he&#8217;d attended the game to support Indiana Fever shooting guard Sophie Cunningham, who&#8217;s been the target of protests since she declared her stance on defending biological females and girls in athletics. Sunday&#8217;s confrontation came after he raised both arms in celebration of a Cunningham three-pointer.
He said that during the next possession, Cloud approached the baseline where he was seated and shouted at him, saying that Cunningham was never going to sleep with him. Freedom, who said that Cunningham is just a friend, stood up and stepped toward the court — but a number of players and officials stepped between him and Cloud, and he was escorted from the arena before things could escalate further.
After a brief conversation with security, Freedom left the venue.

Enes Kanter Freedom Banned From Chicago Sky Home Games As ‘Potential Threat’

The WNBA has a rule saying only women can play. What it doesn&#8217;t have, at least publicly, is an explanation of what exactly makes someone a woman.
Enter Enes Kanter Freedom.
The former NBA player is putting that question to the test after ESPN reported that multiple sources around the league said he and fellow former NBA player Royce White are not eligible to play in the WNBA.
There&#8217;s a reason two former NBA players suddenly want into the women&#8217;s league.
Both men have declared themselves women and eligible for the 2027 WNBA Draft. The move is meant to force the league to confront a question that has been hanging over it for weeks.
Who qualifies as a woman under WNBA rules?
Article XIII, Section 1(a) of the WNBA&#8217;s collective bargaining agreement states: &#8220;Only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA.&#8221;
That&#8217;s it.
<div id="attachment_1164645" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1164645" class="wp-image-1164645 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2291740286-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2291740286-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2291740286-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2291740286-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2291740286.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Michael Reaves/Getty Images</div>
The agreement does not go on to define the word &#8220;woman,&#8221; and the WNBA does not have a publicly available policy governing the eligibility of transgender or intersex athletes, according to ESPN.
So when Fox News host Laura Ingraham pressed Freedom Monday night on whether he is actually a transgender woman, Freedom turned the question back to the league&#8217;s rules.
&#8220;Listen Section 13 right Uh Article 13 Section 1 says if you identify as a woman then you&#8217;re allowed to play,&#8221; Freedom said.
Ingraham asked whether that meant he was identifying as a woman.
&#8220;I identify as a woman, sure, yes,&#8221; Freedom responded.
Freedom&#8217;s description goes further than what the CBA actually says. The agreement does not state that simply identifying as a woman makes someone eligible. It says only that players who are women may play, without publicly explaining how the league determines who meets that requirement.
And that&#8217;s the loophole Freedom is trying to expose.
&#8220;But right now if you identify as a woman you&#8217;re allowed to play and I am identifying as a woman and I am I should be allowed to play it,&#8221; Freedom told Ingraham.
The WNBA didn&#8217;t find itself answering questions about transgender athletes because of Freedom, however.
That started with Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham.
Cunningham set off a national debate earlier this summer when she spoke out against men competing against women and girls.
&#8220;I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I&#8217;m like, I never once said that,&#8221; Cunningham told ESPN. &#8220;I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn&#8217;t have to go against biological men.&#8221;
Cunningham later described her position as &#8220;common sense.&#8221; Her comments turned what had largely been a broader political debate into a very real WNBA headache.
Protests and counterprotests began following the Fever on the road. Other players weighed in. The league was suddenly facing questions about who should be allowed to compete in women&#8217;s basketball.
There was just one problem. There wasn&#8217;t actually a transgender player attempting to enter the WNBA.
Freedom and White decided to change that.
Freedom played 11 seasons in the NBA, while White was a first-round NBA Draft pick in 2012. Both men declared themselves women and eligible for the 2027 WNBA Draft, transforming a largely hypothetical debate into a direct challenge to the league&#8217;s eligibility language.
Freedom then took the fight courtside.
He attended Sunday&#8217;s Indiana Fever game against the Chicago Sky wearing a black shirt that read, &#8220;WOMAN noun. adult human female.&#8221;
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&nbsp;
During a timeout late in the third quarter, Sky guard Natasha Cloud confronted Freedom, and Freedom took several steps toward the court before security intervened and escorted him from Wintrust Arena.
&#8220;I just got kicked out of a @WNBA game for supporting WOMEN!&#8221; Freedom wrote afterward. &#8220;Let that sink in, AMERICA!&#8221;
A day later, ESPN reported that sources around the league said Freedom and White would not be eligible to play.
ESPN also reported that there are currently no cases requiring the WNBA to make an eligibility determination and that the league plans to continue researching and reviewing the issue. No known transgender woman has played in the WNBA.
That leaves Freedom with essentially the same question he started with: if the WNBA says he isn&#8217;t eligible, what exactly is the rule that makes him ineligible?
Freedom said he&#8217;ll follow it if the league spells it out.
&#8220;If they ever come out and say &#8216;Okay we are changing the rules,&#8217; I respect their decision,&#8221; Freedom told Ingraham. &#8220;I will, you know, follow the rules.&#8221;
For now, the league&#8217;s written rule remains remarkably simple: only women can play in the WNBA.
Freedom&#8217;s challenge is just as simple.
Define one.

Enes Kanter Freedom Responds After WNBA Says He’s Not A Woman

transgender athletes in sports

Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud posted a message supporting transgender-identifying people after her viral confrontation with former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom during Sunday night&#8217;s game ended with Freedom being ejected from the arena.
&#8220;<span class="x1lliihq x1plvlek xryxfnj x1n2onr6 xyejjpt x15dsfln xi7mnp6 x193iq5w xeuugli x1fj9vlw x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x1i0vuye xjohtrz xo1l8bm xw2npq5 x1yc453h" dir="auto">To every trans kid/person, <span class="x1lliihq x1plvlek xryxfnj x1n2onr6 xyejjpt x15dsfln xi7mnp6 x193iq5w xeuugli x1fj9vlw x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x1i0vuye xjohtrz xo1l8bm xw2npq5 x1yc453h" dir="auto">You are apart [sic] of MY community &amp; tribe,&#8221; Cloud wrote in a <a href="https://www.threads.com/@t__cloud9/post/DcaByfOEQ3I?xmt=AQG0XWBinCGeIgt5PW0YPLuQ_rvf9e3PLVcGtZ948kU9zHgBF32l6eeZDjQR2dz8Tt8Fuug&amp;slof=1">post</a> on Threads. &#8220;You belong. You’re loved. You’re seen. You’re perfect as you are. &amp; you will always be protected by me.&#8221;
Her post came shortly after a mid-game confrontation in which she shouted at Freedom, who was seated by the baseline wearing a T-shirt defining a woman as an &#8220;adult human female.&#8221;
Cloud had just scored a basket with just over a minute left in the third quarter of Chicago&#8217;s game against the Indiana Fever when the Fever called a timeout. Cloud used the stoppage to approach Freedom and shout at him from the court. Freedom stood up and raised both arms while stepping toward the court before players and officials got between them.
Freedom was ultimately <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/enes-kanter-freedom-booted-from-wnba-game-after-confrontation">escorted from his courtside seat</a> and spoke briefly with police before leaving Chicago&#8217;s Wintrust Arena. He later told OutKick that he believed his shirt had provoked Cloud&#8217;s outburst.
&#8220;I was cheering for my friend Sophie [Cunningham] because when she shot that three, I put my hands in the air,&#8221; Freedom told the outlet. &#8220;A couple possessions later, [Cloud] came back and said, ‘She’s not gonna sleep with you.’ And I was shocked. I was like, ‘Listen, I’m not trying to sleep with her. I think she’s awesome. She’s a good friend.’ But I think it has a lot to do with my shirt. I was obviously wearing a shirt explaining what a woman is, and I think that had a lot to do with what she thinks about women. I think it triggered her a lot.&#8221;
Fever shooting guard Sophie Cunningham has been the target of protests since she stood up for protecting women and girls in sports, and a number of other WNBA players and coaches have taken the opposite position.
The issue has also sparked confrontations involving fans. A Seattle Storm co-owner was accused of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wnba-co-owner-accused-of-cursing-out-teen-girls-over-xx-xy-shirts">scolding teenage girls</a> who wore XX-XY Athletics gear to a game, while a mother and daughter attending an Atlanta Dream game recently said they were told to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/see-it-sophie-cunningham-fans-targeted-again">cover up</a> their XX-XY shirts or leave the arena.
Freedom entered the debate after reviewing the WNBA&#8217;s eligibility rules, claiming that he met the qualifications to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/another-former-nba-player-says-hes-entering-wnba-draft-threatens-discrimination-suit">declare</a> for the 2027 WNBA draft. Fellow former NBA player Royce White followed with a nearly identical announcement, adding that he &#8220;sometimes&#8221; identified as a transgender woman and planned to sue for discrimination if he went undrafted.

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