Michael Porter Jr.'s mouth is landing him in some hot water. Some of his comments this past offseason are resurfacing, particularly his remarks shading the quality of basketball in the WNBA. Back in September, the Brooklyn Nets forward implied that a group of the best high school players in the country were going to demolish the WNBA All-Star team.
Of course, at this point, this is just a hypothetical and there's simply no way of proving Porter's insinuations. But perhaps the most sobering part of this is that Sophie Cunningham, a rotation player for the Indiana Fever, even agreed with the Nets forward's comments, saying that Porter's comments are “probably true” and that “men are just stronger, bigger, athletic” so “if you put them up against females, they’re going to win.”
However, not everyone is content to just sit with Porter's comments and take them lying down. Five-time WNBA All-Star Angel McCoughtry, who retired in 2022, pushed back on the Nets forward's comments and, as the kids say, “clocked his tea”.
“First of all, congratulations. You were dominating against women in the eighth grade. What does he want? Does he want a cookie? You want a medal for that? The only thing that should be coming out of a man's mouth about women is uplifting her,” McCoughtry said in an appearance on the Higher Learning podcast.
McCoughtry then urged Porter, as well as other men, to simply support and help grow the women's game instead of starting pointless debates and pitting the sexes against each other.
“You guys, we have practice guys that come in. You guys help us be more athletic. You guys help us be quicker. You guys play great defense on us. We need you guys,” McCoughtry added.
Angel McCoughtry points out Kobe Bryant example for Nets' MPJ to follow
Instead of pulling the women's game down, McCoughtry simply implored Porter to follow the late great Kobe Bryant's lead.
“If you notice real quick, the elites, Kobe Bryant didn't say that kind of stuff about us. He never did. He only uplifted us and supported us. LeBron doesn't talk that kind of stuff. Why the elites don't talk like that?” McCoughtry added.
That is something for Porter to ponder. After all, the Nets forward wants to be one of the best players in the NBA.
