Charles Barkley has never been shy about calling out the NBA or WNBA when he feels the leagues have mishandled an issue. Now, the Hall of Famer is turning his attention to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert over the league’s handling of the Enes Kanter Freedom controversy. Barkley has also made his stance clear by backing a petition that calls on the WNBA to establish more gender-specific eligibility rules.
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Barkley believes the situation should have been addressed much sooner. In his view, allowing the debate to linger only opened the door for more people to weigh in and turned a league issue into a much larger political spectacle.
“I’m disappointed in Adam Silver and Cathy the commissioner,” Barkley said to radio host and presenter Michael Smerconish. “First of all, you can’t let stupid stuff go out to the internet, which is one of the worst things that ever happened to the world. They (Silver and Engelbert) should have come out two weeks ago before all this, like because people are looking for attention now.
“But he (Enes Kanter Freedom) has a point, though, because Cathy and Adam haven’t said, ‘Hey it’s in the title WNBA. We’re not going to have transgender people in the WNBA and we’re not going to discuss it again.’ That’s what Adam and Cathy should have done two or three weeks ago before they turn it over to the internet and every fool idiot and jacka– to have an opinion on.”
He added, “Adam should come out and, Cathy, I like both of them a lot. ‘There’s no transgender people going to play in the WNBA. If you don’t like it kick rocks. We’re not gonna discuss it anymore… The WNBA is for women.'”
The NBA legend has previously clarified his stance on transgender participation in women’s sports. During a recent appearance on the Andy Beshear Podcast, he stated that while he supports gay and transgender individuals, he does not believe biological males should compete against women in sports.
Charles Barkley has also backed that position with another public show of support. Olympic swimming champion Nancy Hogshead launched a Change.org petition calling on the WNBA to establish explicit “female-only” eligibility criteria.
Sir Charles publicly endorsed the petition, writing that women deserve fair competition and that the WNBA should have clear female eligibility rules. He added that the issue “shouldn’t be complicated.”
His criticism comes as the WNBA faces mounting questions about its eligibility rules. The league’s collective bargaining agreement states that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA.” Still, it does not specifically define the term or spell out rules involving gender identity or sex assigned at birth.
The eligibility of former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White for the 2027 WNBA Draft has sparked significant debate, as both have declared themselves eligible while identifying as women.
The criticism of Engelbert is not limited to Charles Barkley, either. Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham recently questioned whether Engelbert is the right person to lead the league into its next phase.
Cunningham said the WNBA needs a “bold” and confident commissioner who puts the players first.