Michael Porter Jr. is no stranger to going viral for saying the wildest things on podcasts. Everyone still remembers his outrageous claim of rejecting a woman because she dated another NBA player. “If it’s somebody I’m going to be around on a daily basis and have to see them, and they’ve hit your chi-k or whatever, it’s going to be tough to deal with. Maybe some dudes are emotionally locked in enough that it won’t bother them, but that’s not me, bro.” And just when you’d think he’d cool it for a bit, MPJ is back with another spontaneous, headline-grabbing comment — this time involving someone much closer to him: his good friend Sophie Cunningham.

For the fans who always believed some WNBA players could hold their own against men’s basketball players, Michael Porter Jr. has pretty much shut that fantasy down. On the Ball in the Family podcast, MPJ went back to his childhood days, remembering how he used to practice against his college-hooping sisters, who were soon-to-be WNBA pros like Sophie Cunningham.

“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. 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.” 

If there’s one person who probably won’t love this story, it’s Sophie Cunningham. She and MPJ recently sparked dating rumors, but everything we know says they’re simply childhood friends who grew up in Missouri. That’s why his latest anecdote raised eyebrows. As reporter Talia Goodman put it on X, “The math isn’t mathing here.”

MPJ is 27 while Sophie Cunningham is 29, so unless she was suiting up for Missouri at 15 years old, this story just doesn’t add up. And it gets even messier when you factor in his sisters. They’re only two to three years older than him, which means the youngest of them would have been at Mizzou when MPJ was already a junior in high school. The timeline simply isn’t lining up.

Look, this isn’t about debating whether WNBA players can hang with NBA guys. The issue here is simple: what MPJ is claiming just isn’t possible. Sophie Cunningham’s freshman season at Missouri was in 2015–16. Michael Porter Jr., meanwhile, was only a sophomore in high school in 2015. That means his timeline is off by at least two full years. So no matter how he tells the story, the math just doesn’t line up.

MPJ made this factually incorrect statement in response to Pat Beverly suggesting that a WNBA team could beat a group of NBA bench players. It isn’t even the first time Porter Jr. has jumped into this debate. He once claimed a high school boys’ team could beat a WNBA All-Star lineup. So sure, he clearly believes what he’s saying. But whether it’s true or not isn’t even the point here.

When you’re trying to present yourself as a model athlete, constantly stirring up the men vs women conversation does nothing but hurt your image. Even the Brooklyn Nets have reportedly asked him to stay away from sensitive topics, and at this stage, it might be best for MPJ to drop the entire conversation. Instead of proving any kind of point, he’s only hurting his own image with statements that don’t add up.

Moving on, just like MPJ ended up getting traded to the Brooklyn Nets this year, Sophie Cunningham might be headed for a change of scenery too.

Will Sophie Cunningham Remain in Indiana?

Whenever the WNBA finally returns, the league is going to look completely different. With more than 80% of players hitting free agency and everyone expecting the new CBA to bring major salary increases, this offseason feels like a full reset. Aside from rookies, the only players guaranteed to return under contract are Mercury’s Kalani Brown and Seattle’s Lexie Brown. And as all this unfolds, Sophie Cunningham has already made her expectations clear.

Speaking on her Show Me Something podcast, Cunningham revealed she might not be in Indiana next season. “The next team I play for, I want a bigger contract, so then I can buy a house and be homey and cozy,” Cunningham said. “It could be anywhere.”

The Fever will already have Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark locked in on their rookie deals, but GM Kelly Krauskopf has made it clear that the team’s top priority is bringing Kelsey Mitchell back. If they manage to re-sign her, the big question becomes whether Indiana will even have the cap space left to meet Sophie Cunningham’s contract demands. At this point, everything hinges on what the new CBA looks like and how much financial flexibility teams will get once the league and the WNBPA reaches an agreement.