Denver Nuggets small forward Michael Porter Jr. upset some WNBA fans over recent comments he made about players' demands for pay equity.
The 25-year-old appeared on the latest episode of podcast The Pivot, where he was asked by former NFL star Fred Taylor about his outspokenness on WNBA players receiving equal pay to those in the NBA. Around the 35-minute mark in the video below, Porter suggests that women basketball players are incomparable to men because of their smaller fanbase.
"I see from both sides. I know these females want to get paid more, and they’re very talented. But so is a famous ping-pong player," Porter says. "Like, the best ping pong player is just as talented as the best NBA 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. They're not packing out the arenas, obviously, their TV deals aren't the same. So as much as I advocate for women and kind of the equality of the respect of their craft, I mean, you can't pay them the same thing," he continues. "But I do feel like there should be a little way to make a little bit more money because they are very talented."
These comments set off discourse on social media from users who quickly clocked Porter's thoughts as "insulting."
The gender wage gap between the NBA and WNBA remains a hotly debated topic, with the maximum salary for the latter being $234,936 in 2023, per NBC Sports Washington. That's a significant difference in comparison to the NBA, where a player makes an average of $10.8 million yearly, according to Front Office Sports.
In 2022, Las Vegas Aces player Kelsey Plum clarified on The Residency Podcast that WNBA players aren't seeking equal pay as their male counterparts, but an equal percentage of their league’s shared revenue.
Check out more of the reactions to MPJ's commments below.
