Denver Nuggets star Michael Porter Jr. recently commented on the talent possessed by WNBA star Caitlin Clark. According to Porter, the Indiana Fever rookie is capable of scoring offensively against male NBA players.
Porter made his remarks during an appearance on the “Full Send Podcast,” hosted by the famous social media personalities the Nelk Boys. The professional athlete noted that he was taken aback by how good Clark was after watching her play, labeling her the “female Steph Curry.”
“She’s cold, bro. I never watched her play until the tournament, and I was actually in shock how good she was,” Porter said on the “Full Send Podcast.” “The way she was and the range she has, she’s like the female Steph Curry.”
He further claimed that she would be the one female basketball player who could keep up in the NBA, at least on offense. However, Porter maintained that she would be “cooked” on defense, likely due to the natural size and athletic disparities between her and the NBA players. Citing her range, he suggested that she could knock down jump shots.
“Caitlin is cold. That is the one girl, if she was in an NBA game – on defense she would get cooked, but offensively, she’ll knock down some corner threes or like a swing, swing three. She can shoot from that far,” he added.
Porter outright denied the idea that the vast majority of women could compete with men. He also stated that men should not be able to “transition” and play against biological women, stating the conversation around transgender athletes “irritates” him. “Most women can’t compete with men, and I don’t think men should be able to transition and play with women. That whole conversation just irritates me,” he said.
Since entering the WNBA, Clark has been met with significant controversy, where critics have called out things such as her race and sexuality. Furthermore, she has also been fouled aggressively during games and was excluded from the U.S. Olympic roster. Watch the controversial foul against Clark from Chennedy Carter below:
The American Tribune reported on comments about Clark from former ESPN personality Jemele Hill, who suggested that the rookie’s popularity was “problematic” and stemmed from her “race and sexuality.” Hill said, “We would all be very naive if we didn’t say race and her sexuality played a role in her popularity.” She added, “While so many people are happy for Caitlin’s success — including the players; this has had such an enormous impact on the game — there is a part of it that is a little problematic because of what it says about the worth and the marketability of the players who are already there.”
Hill went on, “It’s not jealousy. It’s just the fact that in our society, Black women are often erased from the picture. While Caitlin Clark’s success should be widely celebrated, there are various points where we have seen dynamic phenoms and how they have been able to popularize the game. It’s just that, for whatever reason, could be race, could be gender, could be a myriad of factors, that same marketing muscle that seems very intentional about making sure that Caitlyn Clark is a superstar was missing for them.”
Featured image credit: By John Mac – https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmac612/53558910406/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=145963861
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