EXCLUSIVE: Former NBA player Royce White told Digital that he apparently plans to declare for the 2027 WNBA Draft, as he now claims to be transgender.
There are now two former NBA players to announce such a decision, after Enes Kanter Freedom made his announcement earlier on Friday.
“I’m transgender. I’m a woman. I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purpose of basketball, professional basketball, so I’ll be declaring for the WNBA draft in 2027 as well,” White said.
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“I think I’d be unstoppable. But I’m a team-first guy. I’m a pass-first kind of player. I do the little things. I led my team in all five major stat categories at Iowa State University, so I do a little bit of everything. I’ll do whatever the coach needs me to do. I’ll do whatever the girls need me to do…
“I think it’s only fair.”
Former professional basketball player Royce White was running in the Minnesota Republican primary (Getty Images)
White said only the league could end his challenge by stating its position plainly on the subject of males playing in women’s sports.
“I think the WNBA could come out and make a definitive statement about guys with a pair of balls playing in the Women’s Association,” he said.
Asked whether he would proceed unless the league did make such a statement, White replied, “Oh, no, I’m declaring. And I don’t want to be discriminated against. I want fair treatment. 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 also suggested that he would pursue legal action if he goes undrafted and is not signed to a team.
“I have to file a discrimination lawsuit, right? I mean, that’s, that’s ridiculous,” he said. “We’re gonna have to have a huge legal battle about discrimination if I can’t play.”
White, 35, is also on the ballot in Minnesota’s Aug. 11 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. He was the Republican nominee against Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar in 2024, losing the general election.
Former basketball player Royce White takes the stage at the Minnesota Republican Party convention at St. Paul’s RiverCentre after winning the GOP endorsement to challenge Democratic incumbent Amy Klobuchar for her U.S. Senate seat, Saturday, May 18, 2024, St. Paul, Minn. (Photo by Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via Getty Images) (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
Freedom, who set the internet ablaze with his announcement earlier on Friday, said in a social media post that he and his team had reviewed the WNBA’s eligibility criteria and its approach to self-identification and inclusion. He argued that if declaring an identity were sufficient, he met the requirements to compete.
The WNBA’s actual governing language is more limited. Article XIII of the league’s 2026 collective bargaining agreement states that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA.” The 409-page agreement does not further define “women” or set out a public policy governing transgender or intersex eligibility. It also does not say self-identification alone establishes eligibility.
The Women’s National Basketball Players Association addressed the broader controversy Friday without defining who is eligible to play.
“We embrace justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion,” the union said. In the same statement, it added, “Hate, abuse, and demonization of any person or group of people, including transgender people, only fuel fear, division, and harm. We will continue to have hard conversations. But we will not be used as political pawns.”
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White said that if he had his choice of WNBA teams, he would stay home and play for the Minnesota Lynx and head coach Cheryl Reeve. Reeve recently wore a “trans kids belong” T-shirt in a game against the Indiana Fever and Sophie Cunningham, who became the league’s only player to recently speak out in support of protecting women’s sports from biological males.
“It’s got to be the Minnesota Lynx, and I hear the coach loves a good transgender, so we’ll all be in perfect harmony,” White said.
“How you gonna pass up on a 6-foot-8, 270-pound point forward?” he said. “That’s ridiculous.”
The Houston Rockets selected White 16th overall in the 2012 NBA Draft after his lone season at Iowa State. He averaged 13.4 points, 9.3 rebounds and five assists and became the only Division I player that season to lead his team in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals and blocks.
White measured 6-foot-8 and 260.6 pounds at the 2012 NBA Draft Combine, with an 11.5-inch hand width — the largest recorded among players at that combine.
He predicted current WNBA players would “have nightmares” about guarding him.
“I’m 260 pounds, 265 pounds, 6-foot-8, can palm a basketball — can palm a men’s basketball probably as easily as any player in history,” White said. “I think I had the third-biggest hands in the modern NBA Draft Combine. So, yeah, I’m sure the women’s basketball is going to fare even easier to palm, which is a huge advantage.”
“They’re going to have nightmares, and they should,” he added. “I really feel like I’m going to be dominant.”
White also said he would use the women’s locker room if he made a team.
“Of course,” he said. “I don’t want to be discriminated against. Why wouldn’t I use the women’s locker room?”
White said he has deep respect for women’s basketball, noting that his younger sister Savannah White has played Division I basketball and that Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman coached him in the BIG3.
Royce White of the Power fights for position against Keith Benson of the Enemies during the game in BIG3 Week Three at Comerica Center on July 02, 2022, in Frisco, Texas. (Ron Jenkins/Getty Images for BIG3)
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“I have great respect for the skill of women’s basketball,” White said. “Even at the girls’ level in high school, you see that the girls have to play a much more skilled game because they don’t have some of the physical, God-given abilities or natural physical abilities as the men.”
“There’s a significant difference between biological men and women, and I think we’ve blurred that line, like we’ve blurred many other lines unnecessarily,” he continued. “And I plan to exploit that for my economic and athletic benefit.”
White claims he conceived of the declaration several days before Freedom’s Friday announcement. In an X post on Aug. 4, White declared that he is “transgender” and will “pursue a career in the WNBA.”
“I think I was first,” White said. “His must have been today or yesterday. I was about three days ago. But great minds think alike. There’s no time limit on these things. When great ideas and great opportunities pop up like this, you’ve just got to jump on them and ride them all the way.”
White also floated the possibility of teaming up with Freedom.
“Maybe Enes,” White said when asked whether any WNBA player could match up with him. “Maybe me and Enes should play on the same team. That’d be great…
“Maybe this is how it was supposed to all play out. Me and Enes Kanter running off about five, six WNBA championships.”
A public declaration does not, by itself, place White or Freedom in the WNBA Draft pool, and it would not guarantee either player a selection or contract. The league has not publicly explained what criteria it would use to decide whether a transgender applicant satisfies the CBA’s women-only provision.
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“I’d like to know what the parameters are,” White continued. “What exactly are the specifics? What criteria do I need to meet in order to be able to play? Is it just a wig? Do I have to cut my beard? Does my voice have to get a little bit lighter? Do I have to do this snip-snip? I’d like to know the specifics of the criteria, and I hope they’d be able to defend it in a court of law.”
