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"It's like very derogatory" - Ex-WNBA champion on men calling women "females"
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- "It's like very derogatory" - Ex-WNBA champion on men calling women "females"
Michael Porter Jr and Lexie Brown finally revisited a disagreement that had been sitting between them for years.
Back in 2024, the former Denver Nuggets forward had some words for the WNBA players' push for better TV and sponsorship revenue during an appearance on The Pivot podcast. Porter Jr. was in favor of women getting better pay, but questioned whether their game is on the same level as the NBA when it comes to pay, like men's basketball players. He also compared their salary demands to those of ping-pong players, pointing out that it is not the talent that is in question, but the revenue a sport generates.
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Porter Jr. repeatedly referred to WNBA players as "females," which did not sit well with the former WNBA champion, who raised her voice at the time.
Recently, Lexie had the chance to explain why Porter Jr. brought up the old disagreement during an episode of Curious Mike. And this time, the conversation was less about what Porter Jr. said and more about why the tone in which certain words are said lands differently.
Why was Lexie triggered by the use of the word females
When Brown was upset about Porter Jr.'s comments back in 2024, she was very clear about how she felt.
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"You don't have to watch us play, that's fine," she said in 2024 on Gil's Arena. "But for you to just sit there and just constantly s — t on our product and our craft and everything without really being tuned in, it's just not right."
Now, two years later, the NBA forward asked Brown directly why calling WNBA players "females" instead of women had bothered her. Porter Jr. explained that he has always considered "female" to be a respectful term, after which Brown admitted that calling him out over the wording was " petty ."
That is where the former WNBA champion tried to explain the difference between the word itself and the way she had heard many use it.
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"I think it's like the context of the way you're saying it. So, the whole conversation was kind of talking down on us, and in the experiences that I've had where men call women females, it's like very derogatory," Brown said on the Curious Mike podcast . "Maybe you weren't — like obviously you just explained how you feel about the word female — but in the experiences that probably a lot of us have had when men are like 'these females,' it's like very derogatory and like just talking down on us."
For Brown, it was always the condescending tone many people use when saying "these females" to refer to the women who play in the WNBA. When she heard Porter Jr. use it while discussing the league, it just brought back that same feeling.
Still, the 31-year-old was adult enough to apologize to Porter Jr. for misunderstanding what he was trying to say in that moment.
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But the conversation didn't end there.
Brown opened up on why she's against lowering the WNBA rim
Porter Jr. also argued during the 2024 podcast appearance that the WNBA would become more exciting to watch if the rims were lowered, allowing more players to dunk and potentially bringing more attention and revenue to the sport.
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Porter Jr.'s point was tied to enjoying watching women dunk on each other and to creating more interest in the league. But Lexie gave a very simple counter.
"For me, that will not benefit me at all. I'm not like a super athletic girl. But so many of us, even with the rim lower, you're still not going to get people dunking on people…. Maybe it would benefit what? Five or six players," she added.
Brown thinks that lowering the rim would not instantly produce above-the-rim finishers in the league. There are only so many players who would benefit from a nine-foot basket, while a much larger group would have to completely adjust their shooting game.
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But at least they finally got the chance to explain where each side was coming from.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Aug 18, 2026, where it first appeared in the WNBA section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
