Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. finally met his match. After another derogatory comment about women’s basketball, Porter was called out by 2009 WNBA Draft No. 1 overall pick Angel McCoughtry for disrespecting the sport.
During an interview on the “Higher Learning” podcast with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay, McCoughtry said that instead of putting down the women’s game, she suggested that MPJ appreciate it and praise women playing basketball.
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“I think the only thing that should be coming out of a man’s mouth about women is uplifting her. I think the main thing we should be talking about a woman, guess what?” McCoughtry stated. “When I got to come and drop 40 and I’m on my f***ing period and I’m bleeding and my stomach hurts and my back hurts, when y’all load manage off a headache.”
WNBA players become mothers and still continue their basketball careers
The 6’1″ McCoughtry played 13 seasons in the WNBA and posted career averages of 16.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 2.0 steals per game across 311 career games played in the “W.” She was a five-time All-Star, a two-time scoring champion, a two-time steals leader, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, and a member of the WNBA’s 25th Anniversary team.
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She added that while men may be more physically and athletically gifted than women on the basketball court, there are things that female basketball players can do off the court that men can’t, such as having children and continuing their basketball careers as mothers and wives to their husbands.
“Guess what? Let’s talk about how awesome it is that women, we have these babies and we come back and still dominate sports. Yeah, you can dunk. A lot of us can’t do that. But the awesome things we can do, let’s highlight that. Guess what? We are wives. So, it’s not easy to take care of a husband and kids and come and dominate a sport,” she added.
But the greatest players never disrespected women’s basketball
In the first part of her rebuttal, McCoughtry also wondered what MPJ wanted to get out of telling the story that he dominated as an 8th grader against older women, including some future WNBA stars. However, Angel emphasized that while Porter, Lonzo Ball, and Jason Williams, among others, have disrespected women’s basketball, the game’s all-time great players have never said a bad word against it.
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“If you notice the elites, Kobe don’t say that kind of stuff about us,” McCoughtry continued. “He never did. He only uplifted us and supported us. Bron don’t talk that kind of stuff. Why don’t the elites talk like that?”
If you looked at Kobe Bryant, you would see that he was a massive supporter of the women’s game, mainly due to his daughter Gigi, who also played basketball. Likewise, players like LeBron and Steph Curry have been vocal supporters of women’s basketball. But MPJ and Zo?
They were lottery picks and are good players. However, they aren’t at the level of Kobe, Bron, or Steph. And the difference isn’t so much talent as it is character and the way they handle themselves outside the court.
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This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Nov 22, 2025, where it first appeared in the WNBA section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
