Patrick Beverley has spent years arguing that women’s basketball deserves the same respect as the men’s game. Now he believes Enes Kanter and Royce White are turning it into a political prop.
The two former NBA players have announced plans to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft in an effort to challenge the league’s transgender eligibility policy.
Whatever message Kanter and White hoped to deliver, Beverley views their approach as a stunt that demeans the WNBA and the women who helped build it.
“Enes Kanter, Royce White, I don’t like what y’all are doing at all,” Beverley said on “The Pat Bev Show” podcast. “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.”
Kanter, a native of Turkey who goes by Enes Kanter Freedom, and White have described their declarations as tests of the WNBA’s rules rather than sincere gender transitions. The league’s collective bargaining agreement states that only women are eligible to play, but does not explicitly define the term or detail a transgender participation policy.
The WNBA has rejected their campaign as a “bad-faith” effort to exploit the debate and marginalize others. Kanter, meanwhile, has said additional former NBA, G League and European players are considering joining his effort.
“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?” Beverley said. “I understand the point y’all are trying to make. What y’all doing, it ain’t right.”
Beverley did not clearly answer the underlying question of whether transgender women should be eligible to play in the WNBA. He said he has transgender and gay relatives and expressed “love for everybody,” while focusing his criticism on Kanter’s and White’s tactics.
“Regardless of what message y’all trying to get out there, bro, there’s a way to do it,” Beverley said. “It’s a hundred ways to skin a cat.”
His defense of the league is consistent with his previous comments about women’s basketball.
When Angel Reese faced criticism for taunting Caitlin Clark during the 2023 NCAA championship game, Beverley objected to the double standard.
“The guys can do it, and it’s praised,” Beverley said at the time. “But a young lady does it, and it’s frowned upon. I don’t agree with that. I think a hooper is a hooper. You don’t put gender, you don’t put race on it.”
He later argued that A’ja Wilson and the WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces could defeat an NBA team composed of reserve players. Beverley has since called Wilson “the most dominant WNBA player we’ve ever seen.”
Beverley’s remarks do not settle the debate over transgender eligibility. They instead draw a line between debating the policy and using women’s basketball as the stage for a stunt.
“We just got the ladies the bag,” Beverley said. “They getting a lot of airtime right now. The games is lit. You got new teams coming into the league that’s popping off.”
To Beverley, that progress is worth protecting — and Kanter and White are undermining it while claiming to defend it.
