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Michael Porter Jr. leverages Sophie Cunningham relationship amid negative WNBA comments originally appeared on The Sporting News
Brooklyn Nets player Michael Porter Jr. has received backlash over his previous comments on the WNBA. He went viral for his comments about women’s basketball when he spoke about the pay disparities against WNBA players, which he credited to a lack of viewership.
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“I know these females [WNBA players] want to get paid more, and they’re very talented. But so is a famous ping-pong player… That doesn’t mean that they’re going to get paid the same, because it’s what the people wanna watch. As much as I understand females wanting the same treatment as men basketball players, it’s a different sport,” he said on The Pivot Podcast last year.
When he wasn’t talking about the lack of viewers wanting to watch the WNBA, which he believes contributes to the lack of pay, he spoke negatively about the skills of said players. In a Twitch stream with streamer plaqueboymax back in August, when he insinuated the WNBA stars’ playing ability could be compared to that of high school players.
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“If the WNBA All-Star team, if the Olympic team played the McDonald’s All-American high school players, it’s one of them things, bro. You can’t dance around it,” he said on the stream at the time. “In high school, when I was in high school… If we play the WNBA All-Star team, that, no disrespect, bro. No disrespect, bro. I’m not even gonna say it.”
However, despite the previous comments Porter Jr. has made, he shared during the Brooklyn Nets media day that he has a “fan” of the league.
“I’m the biggest fan of the WNBA,” he said. “I have two sisters that for most of my childhood beat me every single day at basketball. Like, I’m the biggest fan of the WNBA. I grew up with Sophie Cunningham. She’s also from my [city], so we’ve talked a little about just being able to chop it up and talk on the podcast and things like that.”
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Michael Porter Jr. about why he started his podcast
During the offseason, Porter Jr. has been a part of several podcasts, voicing his opinions on dating as well as starting his own podcast, Curious Mike.
“The podcast I started years ago. I think it’s important for players to be able to kind of have a say in their own narrative,” Porter Jr. said during Nets Media Day. “That was part of it. I’ve had a podcast for a while, so it’s nothing new. It was honestly just having more attention to detail in my life. I read a book, and it was just that thing you put off for the future, spend a day doing it now. So I honestly just gave it more effort because you have 24 hours in a day, I’m obviously not going to be in the gym all 24 hours.”
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Despite the noise on social media, Porter Jr. shares that starting a podcast wasn’t a result of his trade to the Nets. The NBA Champion was traded from the Denver Nuggets over the summer.
“So I think it was just more intentionality of trying to be consistent with it,” he said. “And obviously, it took off a little bit, and people paid attention to it, but there was nothing that really inspired it. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I got traded, now let me get on this podcast.’ I think it was just more me being focused on it a little bit.”
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