Donald Trump‘s astonishing remarks about trying to recruit LeBron James for a women’s basketball team have resurfaced online as the WNBA‘s transgender war continues to intensify.
The divisive topic of trans athletes in women’s sports has engulfed the WNBA of late after Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham sparked controversy by claiming she wants to ‘protect young girls’ from ‘biological men’ in competition.
Several high-profile figures in the league have distanced themselves from Cunningham’s stance, while Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve even wore a ‘Trans Kids Belong’ T-shirt during their game against Indiana on Sunday to make her opinion known.
While liberals have condemned her, Cunningham has received support from a number of conservative commentators, with Outkick founder Clay Travis even offering to pay $10million to WNBA champions the Las Vegas Aces if they can beat a high school boys team in a bid to demonstrate the physical differences between men and women.
Travis has also claimed he is prepared to call the bluff of lefties and launch his own all-trans WNBA franchise, with 6ft 3in trans French basketball star Julie Tetart already expressing an interest in joining the league.
Donald Trump’s astonishing remarks about trying to recruit LeBron James for a women’s basketball team have resurfaced
WNBA star Sophie Cunningham has reignited the debate over trans athletes in women’s sports
And as the debate rages on, an extraordinary Trump rant about asking LeBron if he ever had ‘any desire to be a woman’ to be eligible for the WNBA has reemerged on social media.
Back in 2022, the then-former president said in a speech at the America First Policy Institute: ‘I’ll tell you what, I’d be the greatest women’s basketball coach in history. Because, I don’t like LeBron James, I like Michael Jordan much better, but I’d go up to LeBron James, it doesn’t matter, I’d say, “LeBron, did you ever have any desire to be a woman? Because what I’d love you to do is star on my team that I’m building up.”
‘I’ll have the greatest team in history. They’ll never lose. Nobody will come within 70 points of this team. No, we have to change that. We have to make it OK to talk about it.’
Trump seized on transgender issues as he campaigned for a second White House term in 2024, and vowed to punish doctors who provide gender-affirming care to minors.
Just months after being re-elected, he then signed a series of executive orders blocking biological males from competing in female sports at schools, colleges and universities across America.
Cunningham first reignited the debate surrounding trans athletes by insisting that young girls ‘shouldn’t have to go against biological men’ when playing sports, and every Fever game since has seen both pro and anti-trans protests inside and outside the arena.
On Sunday, protestors on each side of the debate clashed outside the arena, while Lynx coach Reeve was seen in an animated discussion with Cunningham at the side of the court while wearing her ‘Trans Kids Belong’ shirt.
Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve wore a pro-trans shirt while playing Cunningham’s Indiana
French trans basketball star Julie Tetart is interested in playing in the WNBA amid the drama
Indiana superstar Caitlin Clark was also involved in a testy exchange with a reporter after being asked about the controversy surrounding her teammate.
Clark had no interest in sharing her own thoughts on the topic, instead shutting down two reporters who quizzed her about Cunningham’s stance and insisting the team’s focus is on basketball.
‘I think, for us, it’s not really a discussion we really have in our locker room,’ she said to a packed media room after the 108-100 loss. ‘I think it’s for leagues and the governing bodies to work with their athletes to find solutions, but our focus is on basketball.
‘That’s what we talk about and how we can get wins, and, obviously, we didn’t do that tonight.
The WNBA is yet to comment on Cunningham’s remarks, yet the recently signed collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players’ association states that ‘only players who are women are eligible to play’.
