Former NBA stars slammed for ‘disrespectful’ WNBA stunt after Caitlin Clark claim and brutal warning to Angel Reese
Patrick Beverley has slammed former NBA stars who are attempting to enter the WNBA Draft amid the trans athlete scandal engulfing the league.
The issue of trans players in women’s sports has been thrust into the limelight after Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham spoke up against the issue.
Two former NBA players, Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, have since seized upon the issue as a chance to make a political point. Both have announced plans to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft, challenging the league’s transgender eligibility policy.
But Beverley, a strong advocate for women’s basketball, is furious at the stunt for demeaning the WNBA and its players, accusing them of being ‘disrespectful’.
And the 38-year-old took aim at Kanter in particular, making reference to the fact he is Swiss-born and was raised in Turkey, not moving to the United States until he was 17.
‘Enes Kanter, Royce White, I don’t like what y’all are doing at all,’ he said on The Pat Bev Show.
Patrick Beverley has hit out at former NBA stars trying to make a political point using the WNBA
Enes Kanter Freedom was the first former NBA player to declare for the 2027 WNBA Draft
‘I think y’all disrespecting the brand that showed y’all a lot of respect. I think y’all disrespecting the game of basketball, period. You talk about Enes Kanter; you ain’t even from here. You come to another country, they give you $102 million in the NBA.
‘You’ve made a name for being in the NBA, and you gonna come in here and say you want to try out for the WNBA? I understand the point y’all are trying to make. What y’all doing, it ain’t right.
‘Regardless of what message y’all trying to get out there, bro, there’s a way to do it. It’s a hundred ways to skin a cat.’
The WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement states only women are eligible to play. But with no explicit definition of the term or detail on a transgender participation policy, Kanter and White have decided to try and test those rules, with the campaign rejected by the league as a ‘bad-faith’ effort.
After making his initial declaration, Kanter has doubled down, recently claiming in a high-profile interview with former Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl that he wants to play for the Indiana Fever.
He claimed that him and Caitlin Clark could be the ‘modern day Kobe and Shaq,’ referring to Lakers legends Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.
‘Think about this… We’re going down the lane, Caitlin throws me a lob and I cut the lob and dunk the ball,’ he said. ‘Then me and Caitlin bump chests… which I’m allowed to do now, because I’m a woman.’
Then, while watching Clark’s Fever beat the Atlanta Dream last weekend, he took to social media to warn Angel Reese she is his first target in the league.
Kanter played for five different NBA teams between 2011 and 2022, including the Celtics
Royce White has joined Kanter in declaring for the WNBA Draft after recent events
‘Sis! Once I go No. 1 pick in the 2027 @WNBA Draft, the first player I’m dunking on is Angel Reese,’ Kanter wrote on X.
In the same interview for the America First Policy Institute, Freedom also took another provocative jab at commissioner Cathy Engelbert by claiming that the WNBA is ‘still trying to figure out what a woman is.’
‘It’s been around for 30 years,’ he said ahead of a meeting over the issue. ‘So think about how disrespectful that statement to all the players that have played in the league, in their history.’
However, he insisted that his intention was not to mock the league as he urged fans to take his message seriously.
‘What my campaign stands for is different than what any other player is doing,’ he insisted. ‘I have said before, I’m not here to mock, make fun of, or disrespect any group or personal decisions.
‘What I’m doing is bigger than getting clicks and attention. I don’t want this whole thing to turn into a laughing stock. I want people to take our message seriously.’