Another ex-NBA player just declared for the 2027 WNBA Draft originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Former Milwaukee Bucks big man Larry Sanders has joined Royce White and Enes Freedom Kanter in “challenging” the WNBA’s definition of gender.
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Sanders on Wednesday “declared” for the 2027 WNBA Draft, following the lead of White and Freedom last week.
“I understand that the rules to get in are somewhat controversial, but I’m gonna take advantage of those rules,” Sanders said from his car in a two-minute video posted to Instagram.
MORE: Why former NBA player says he’s declaring for the WNBA
Sanders, who identifies as a male, said he would be a woman when he takes the court in a WNBA game, which has about the same likelihood as a meteor wiping out all of human existence in the next week. He last played professional basketball in Taiwan in 2024, and his last NBA game was on April 10, 2017.
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“I’m ‘her’ when I’m playing basketball,” Sanders said before a woman he identified as his mother entered his vehicle.
When asked how he could declare for the WNBA Draft, Sanders said “say you’re a woman and that’s it.”
Sanders, a former first-round draft pick of the Milwaukee Bucks, is the latest former basketball player to capitalize on Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham‘s comments about gender and the WNBA.
In an ESPN feature published last month, Cunningham spoke about wanting to “protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.” These statements were a dogwhistle for bad-faith, far-right causes, and they prompted NBA veterans Freedom and White to declare themselves women for the sole purpose of trolling the WNBA.
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The WNBA is coming to grips with being a competition that generates serious interest and excitement in the American sporting conscience. Players like Caitlin Clark are shattering longstanding league records on what seems like a nightly basis. A’ja Wilson could become a five-time MVP in a matter of weeks. Young stars like Paige Bueckers and Olivia Miles are lighting up arenas each night.
But as charlatans like Sanders are being cheered on by the “keep men out of women’s sports” crowd, it means the grift must continue until further notice.
