Key Takeaways
- Royce White reversed his longtime criticism of Stephen A. Smith, calling him “a good guy” and praising his influence as a sports journalist and emerging political voice.
- White’s shift follows Smith’s defense of his attempt to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft as a protest against transgender eligibility in women’s sports.
- White said he is not coordinating with Enes Kanter Freedom on their parallel campaigns as he pursues another U.S. Senate run in Minnesota in 2026.
Royce White has spent years criticizing Stephen A. Smith. Now, after Smith defended his WNBA Draft campaign, the former NBA player has a considerably different assessment of one of sports media's loudest voices.
“I like Stephen A. He’s a good guy,” White told Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson in a wide-ranging interview.
That wasn't always White's position. He acknowledged that he had previously been critical of Smith and sports media more broadly, particularly over how young Black athletes are covered. “As a young Black athlete, you’re under a microscope, and the media feels like a hostile entity,” White said. “I always side with the players.”
White said age—and his experience in professional fighting—changed that perspective. What he once saw simply as outsiders criticizing athletes, he now sees as part of the machinery that keeps professional sports commercially relevant.
“I have a different respect for Stephen A. Smith’s work in sports now,” White said, before offering even bigger praise for Smith's increasing involvement in political commentary. “His emergence as a political voice from his position as one of the most successful sports journalists in American history is unquantifiable in its importance.”
The newfound respect comes after Smith defended White and Enes Kanter Freedom for their attempt to declare for the 2027 WNBA Draft as a protest over transgender eligibility in women's sports. Smith called their challenge “important” while criticizing the league's handling of the issue.
In August, White announced his intention to enter the draft while calling himself “Queen Roysha,” later appearing courtside at an Indiana Fever-Connecticut Sun game wearing a long blonde wig and describing himself as a “beautiful Black Trans Lesbian.” League sources subsequently said White and Freedom were ineligible for the 2027 WNBA Draft, while White has continued saying he may pursue legal action.
And despite their parallel campaigns, White now says he and Freedom aren't coordinating.
“No, I don’t need to talk to him either,” White said when asked whether the two former NBA players had been in contact. “I don’t need to coordinate with no Turk about what I’m saying or doing.”
White added that he wished Freedom well but insisted, “We’re cut from two totally different cloths.”
White, meanwhile, has increasingly moved his public profile from basketball into politics. He finished third in Minnesota’s 2026 Republican U.S. Senate primary after serving as the party’s Senate nominee in 2024.
White said the two still disagree, but praised Smith for being willing to risk his commercial standing to speak publicly about issues outside sports.
“Stephen A. Smith is willing to give up a fortune most people would steal from their mama to get, just to say what he thinks is true,” White said. “There’s nothing more honorable than that today.”
