Key Takeaways
- Former NBA player Royce White says he will explore legal action against the WNBA after Commissioner Cathy Engelbert ruled him ineligible for the 2027 draft because he is a man.
- White, who claims to identify as a woman, said the league must define “what a man and a woman is and why,” and called on NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to weigh in.
- White frames his campaign as protecting women’s sports, though a judge found him liable in February for abusing his ex-wife and teenage son; he denies the allegations and has appealed.
Royce White has apparently become yet another man who can't take no for an answer.
The former NBA player is threatening legal action against the WNBA after Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told Congress that neither White nor Enes Kanter Freedom is eligible for the 2027 draft because they're both men.
"We plan to explore every legal avenue possible to hold the WNBA and NBA community to their stated standards and values," White told Fox News.
White hasn't filed a lawsuit or provided a timeline. But he made clear that the commissioner's written rejection wasn't enough to end his campaign.
"No, we're not letting them off that easy," White said. "She has to define, and the WNBA has to define, what a man and a woman is and why."
Engelbert's response came in an Oct. 16 letter to five Republican lawmakers who questioned the league's eligibility requirements after White and Freedom announced their intentions to enter the draft while claiming to identify as women.
"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.
White also wants NBA Commissioner Adam Silver involved.
"I'd like Adam Silver and the NBA to weigh in," he said.
The threatened lawsuit is the latest development in a months-long campaign that has repeatedly pulled attention away from basketball. White previously appeared at an Indiana Fever game wearing a blonde wig and declaring himself "Queen Roysha."
His actual NBA résumé is considerably shorter than his ongoing argument with the WNBA. Selected 16th overall in the 2012 NBA Draft, White appeared in just three regular-season games, totaling nine minutes and zero points.
Freedom, meanwhile, played 11 NBA seasons before his career ended in 2022. His WNBA campaign also led to controversy when he was ejected from a Chicago Sky game after a confrontation with guard Natasha Cloud. Freedom subsequently sued the Sky, alleging his removal violated his constitutional rights.
Both men have presented their campaigns as efforts to protect women's sports.
But White's public advocacy comes with a documented history of abuse.
In February, Hennepin County Judge Kristen Marttila found White liable for abusing his ex-wife and teenage son. The civil ruling barred him from contacting his ex-wife for 50 years and his son for two years.
The judge found that White repeatedly slapped, grabbed, and pulled his ex-wife's hair, leaving injuries. She also found that he chased his son during basketball practice, grabbed him by the neck and threw him into a metal ball rack.
Marttila described his ex-wife's testimony as "entirely credible." White has denied the abuse and appealed the ruling.
Despite the court's findings, White continues to frame his WNBA campaign around protecting women. He also insists he's a fan of the league.
"I'd love to see it not as politicized as it is, because I think it takes away from the beauty of the game," White told Fox News.
He added that he's been watching the WNBA Finals and is "scoping the competition."
