For years, asking “What is a woman?” was treated in some circles like an impossibly complicated philosophical question.
Enes Kanter Freedom apparently decided to make it a basketball question instead. The 6'10", 250-pound former NBA center has formally declared for the 2027 WNBA Draft. And he's not alone. Former NBA player Royce White says he's declaring too, announcing that he's entered his “feminine era.”
Suddenly definitions seem kind of important. The WNBA's own collective bargaining agreement says “Only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA.” There's just one small problem...according to reporting on the agreement, its 409 pages never define “woman” or “women,” while “transgender” and “gender identity” don't appear either.
So now the league gets to answer the question everyone else was told was too complicated. If biological sex determines eligibility, write that into the rules. If gender identity determines eligibility, explain why Kanter and White don't qualify. And if the answer is “Come on, guys, obviously they're not really women,” congratulations, you've just discovered why definitions matter.
The WNBA commissioner calls transgender participation a “complex and nuanced topic.” Apparently it's about to become a very tall one too.
Who had Enes Kanter solving the “What is a woman?” debate via the WNBA Draft on their 2026 bingo card?
We talked about this on the recent episode of our pod. My guess is they come up with some arbitrary reason to dismiss these guys. The question will then be will the courts eventually get involved and force WNBA to take a hard line on it.
My guess is they'll put a "proof of sincerity" clause meaning you need to have been on hormone blockers for X years, a doctors note from an approved doctor, etc, in order to qualify.
The question is whether Kanter and White would sue them for putting the clause in retroactively, specifically to block them from entering the draft.
My guess is the courts would not favor Kanter and White.
Your mistake is thinking that any of this is motivated by an internally consistent philosophy
Au contraire, I think it’s based on a series of irrational “problematic” landmines.
And that's where this gets interesting. Every attempt to patch the loophole seems to require another arbitrary line.
Years of hormones? How many?
Surgery? Then identity alone isn't enough. Doctor's certification? Now a doctor determines whether your identity is legitimate. No medical requirements? Then what's the principled basis for rejecting Kanter?
At some point the simplest rule becomes the one everyone spent years insisting was unnecessarily complicated, women's professional basketball is for biological females.
This is more than strange.. Enes changed his name first and now this. Actually when i see WNBA i remember only Sophie Cunningham from Indiana Fever in this days..