Michael Porter Jr. is having a very good couple of weeks. For the first time in his career, he’s put up seven straight games of 20 points or more. In that stretch, he’s also twice set personal best for
assists, showing off passing skills his former assistant coach in Denver knew he had. Moreover, the summer time trade Sean Marks engineered to acquire him and an unprotected first rounder down the road is looking very good. Cam Johnson, who went from Brooklyn to Denver in the deal, has had one good game so far for the Nuggets, emphasizing MPJ’s positive start.
So putting aside the Nets record, it would appear everything is right in his world, right? Nope. Not quite.
After a summer filled with controversial remarks on podcasts — his own and others — MPJ seemed to step back in recent months, leaving off-court controversy aside while showing his on-court skills. But alas, that respite ended this week with new commentary on the WNBA, which has been his bane.
Moreover, Porter said that the Nets had asked him in “conversations” to avoid certain subjects in his public discourse. While that got as much play as what he actually said, it’s nothing new. Sean Marks noted that back on Media Day that indeed the Nets had made it clear to him in a meeting that the Nets were not happy and had made Porter aware where the Nets organization stood on “certain issues and topics.” Porter merely confirmed the meeting.
To be fair, what he said on the Ball Family podcast was tame compared to what he said in the summer. He noted in one podcast back then that when dating, he would “test girls” on “their beliefs” by playing them audio of Andrew Tate … whose entire persona revolves around toxic masculinity and who has faced charges of rape, trafficking minors, sex with a minor, money laundering and actual bodily harm in the United Kingdom and Romania.
He also spoke in the summer, as he has in the past, about the WNBA. It’s a bit complicated. On one hand he’s advocated for women players, specifically saying how shoe companies should create signature sneakers for women players, even playing in Breanna Stewart’s brand. On the other, he’s also questioned whether WNBA players should get tangible rewards, like equal pay. And that’s what got him in the news again this week…. at the very moment the women’s league and its players are deep in discussions about salaries.
Specifically, he and Lonzo Ball, now with the Cavs, spoke about how they, as middle schoolers, would have dominated WNBA players.
Porter mentioned how WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson said she could beat Josh Hart one-on-one. And off they went, as TMZ Sports and others noted.
“I mean this as respectfully as possible, but 9th-grade Lonzo Ball in the WNBA is going crazy,” Ball said.
“In 9th grade, I was over six feet, and I’m dunking. I’m coming through the lane. No girl in the WNBA is doing that. I’m going back door, throw it up. I’m looking like [Michael] Jordan out there.”
Porter Jr. even suggested that as a junior high school player could beat some WNBA hoopers.
“I have real experience doing this,” he said. “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.”
Putting aside that Cunningham, the Phoenix Mercury star, is two years older than Porter and that Porter also advocated in the podcast for the WNBA players to succeed in their negotiations, the commentary was another awkward moment in MPJ’s history of remarks about women and the W.
Then, there was his comment about how the Nets had reacted to his summer podcasts. After all, Marks has made it clear, as have others in the organization, that high character matters and it’s not just a talking point.
“The organization we just had conversations that they would appreciate it if I would stay clear of certain topics,” he told Ball. “That’s why the WNBA thing, that’s just a topic that’s so sensitive nowadays so I just try to be aware of that.”
While he said he was happy to connect with the Balls and Carmelo Anthony on whose podcast he also recently appeared, “for the most part I’m chillin’. I’m not trying to say nothing crazy no more.”
While some may claim what the Nets asked him to do amounts to a “ban” MPJ said clearly he didn’t see it that way. It is also nothing new. Marks addressed the issue in response to a reporter’s question back on Media Day, disclosing that he and others in the organization had spoken to MPJ about his comments. The Nets GM in effect implied that the spotlight in New York is much brighter than in Denver, and he has to understand that, saying, “This market is a little different that where he was.”
“Those conversations that myself and a group have had with Michael will remain internal,” Marks said specifically. “I think this is, as Jordi [Fernández] alluded to, a new environment for him, a new market, new expectations, new roles, both on the court and in the locker room for him. So, I think he’s finding his way. I think we’ll basically leave it at that. He knows where the organization stands on certain issues and topics, and this market is a little different from where he was.”
There were some in the organization who admitted they weren’t sure the meeting would work, that MPJ indeed has few filters …as he once again proved this week.
