{"id":304563,"date":"2025-11-24T21:47:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T21:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/304563\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T21:47:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T21:47:10","slug":"sophie-cunningham-agrees-that-elite-8th-grade-boys-could-beat-wnba-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/304563\/","title":{"rendered":"Sophie Cunningham agrees that elite 8th-grade boys could beat WNBA stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being one of the brightest stars in the WNBA<\/a>, Sophie Cunningham should know a thing or two about just how good the best players in the women\u2019s game are.<\/p>\n

So it should come as a surprise to some that she didn\u2019t come to the defence of her colleagues over viral comments made by former NBA champion Michael Porter Jr. last week, who said that a team of grade-school boys could take down the stars of the WNBA.<\/p>\n

During an appearance on the Ball in the Family podcast with Lonzo and LaMelo Ball, Porter Jr. made the assertion that a team of elite eight-grade boys could beat the WNBA all-stars in a game of hoops.<\/p>\n

Porter claimed to have scrimmaged against Cunningham\u2019s University of Missouri team when he was \u201cin the seventh or eighth grade, going crazy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean this as respectfully as possible, but ninth-grade Lonzo Ball in the WNBA is going crazy,\u201d Ball said.<\/p>\n

Cunningham \u2018not surprised\u2019 by Porter\u2019s take<\/p>\n

The topic went viral on social media before Cunningham weighed in on her own podcast, agreeing with the NBA stars.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my personal opinion. But if you are a professional football player, basketball player, really any sport \u2026 If you\u2019re in that elite-level group, yeah, you should be able to beat the girls,\u201d she said on her Show Me Something podcast. \u201cI\u2019m not surprised by that. I just don\u2019t get why it\u2019s continuing to get brought up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf women are saying, \u2018He couldn\u2019t beat them,\u2019 yeah, he could. Any NBA star could beat a female in high school,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be unrealistic or delusional. Like, men are just stronger, bigger, athletic. They just are a different build. So if you put them up against females, yeah, they\u2019re gonna win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cunningham, who co-hosts the pod with her friend West Wilson, clarified that the boys would have to be future pros, not just an average group of youngsters.<\/p>\n

RECOMMENDED VIDEOPut it in context<\/p>\n

\u201cThe context of it is fair,\u201d she said. \u201cIf (the eighth-graders) are future pros, it just depends how big they are. And the majority of the time, if they\u2019re going pro, unless you\u2019re a late bloomer you\u2019re already pretty big.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I would say that that\u2019s probably true. It\u2019s probably true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cunningham, who plays for the Indiana Fever alongside superstar Caitlin Clark<\/a>, added that she was not trying to disrespect her WNBA colleagues, but was merely stating reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t think that\u2019s a fair matchup,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Cunningham, who finished her first season with the Fever<\/a> after playing her first six WNBA seasons with the Phoenix Mercury, averaged 8.6 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.<\/p>\n

With her podcast, a following of more than 1.3 million people on Instagram<\/a> and friendship with Clark, Cunningham has become one of the league\u2019s most recognizable stars off the court.<\/p>\n