NBA player Michael Porter Jr. has made several inflammatory comments regarding his opinion that the world’s best women’s basketball players couldn’t compete against elite high school men’s basketball players.
The most recent comment Porter Jr. made came during his November 18 appearance on theBall in the Family Podcast, where he said, “I’m probably going with 8th grade because I have real experience doing this. I played my sisters. They played at The University of Missouri and I was still a young kid.
“They had me playing on the scout team and they had a few WNBA players on their team like, Sophie Cunningham and a couple others. I was in the 7th or 8th grade going crazy,” he added, per an X post from @Ballislife.
The fact that Porter Jr. keeps finding ways to bring this opinion back up is pissing many women’s basketball fans off. Not to mention that he got his timeline wrong when sharing this stance, which didn’t escape social media’s notice.
Sep 23, 2025; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. (17) speaks at Media Day. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Sophie Cunningham Addresses Michael Porter Jr.’s Comments
Given that Porter Jr. name-dropped Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham (who grew up together), it was going to be interesting to see whether Cunningham would comment on his take. And that’s exactly what she did during a November 20 episode of her Post Moves podcast. Although her stance might surprise some.
After Cunningham’s co-host, West Wilson, went over what Porter Jr. said, Cunningham said, “This is my personal opinion. But if you are a professional football player, basketball player, really any sport… If you’re in that elite level group, yeah, you should be able to beat the girls. I’m not surprised by that. I just don’t get why it’s continuing to get brought up.
“If women are saying, ‘He couldn’t beat them,’ yeah, he could. Any NBA star could beat a female in high school,” Cunningham added.
Cunningham and Wilson then found out that the context behind Porter Jr.’s quote was that he and the Ball brothers were speaking about at what age they believed an elite boy’s basketball team could beat a WNBA team, and Porter Jr. said in 8th grade.
“The context of it is fair,” Cunningham added. “If [the 8th graders] are future pros, it just depends how big they are. And the majority of the time, if they’re going pro, unless you’re a late bloomer, you’re already pretty big.
“So I would say that that’s probably true. It’s probably true! I don’t 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’re gonna win,” she added of Porter Jr.’s 8th-grade stance. “I just don’t think that’s a fair matchup.”
It will be interesting to see what the reaction to Cunningham’s comments are.
Recommended Reading: