Michael Porter Jr. recently made a claim about the WNBA that left a lot of people outraged, but Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham was not at all offended.
During a recent appearance on the “Ball in the Family” podcast, Lonzo Ball and Porter discussed the recent claim made by Patrick Beverley that a WNBA team would be good enough to beat a team of just NBA bench players. Both Porter and Ball disagreed, with Ball saying he feels he could have dominated the WNBA when he was in 9th grade.
Porter took it a step further.
“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,” Porter said, as transcribed by Ballislife.com. “So, I have real life experience. It’s just a difference and I wish this would stop being a conversation because it should be common sense. I appreciate common sense. I feel sometimes that’s lost a little bit.”
Cunningham discussed the comments during the latest episode of her “Show Me Something” podcast. Some people were surprised to hear her agree with Porter.
“I mean, it’s probably true,” Cunningham admitted.
Sophie Cunningham on MPJ saying he could’ve beat a WNBA team when he was in 8th grade:
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) November 23, 2025
“I mean, it’s probably true.”
(via @ShowMe_Pod, h/t @YahooSports) pic.twitter.com/M3wrxWytkF
Top recruits like Porter and Ball would probably have a height and athleticism advantage over most WNBA players, even when they were in high school or younger. Many current NBA players were well over 6 feet tall at that point in their lives.
The “could a WNBA team beat NBA players?” debate is always going to be a polarizing one. It is no different from when people speculate about whether the top team in college football could beat the worst team in the NFL. The topic makes for perfect podcast fodder.
