He told his side of the story.
Koreaboo
Just now
Last year, the popular Taiwanese transgender celebrity and model Xiao A La was the topic of rumors involving an NBA player.
Xiao A La began on YouTube, where she documented her gender reassignment surgery experience in 2020. Since then, she has only gained more popularity, even representing Taiwan in a beauty pageant.
In August 2025, Taiwanese news outlets reported on a netizen’s story of seeing Xiao A La at a hotel with a mystery man. One outlet reached out to Xiao A LA, who spoke about the encounter, saying that she did not know who the man was.
According to Xiao A La, she used a phone translator with him because he only spoke English. The model shared that the two went out for a while, and then she went to check out his presidential suit, where it is implied that they had sexual relations.
She did not name him in the sources but said that he contacted her via Instagram and that she thought he was just a handsome man with many fans. According to Xiao, this happened frequently, and only after that did her friends tell her that he was a “big American basketball star with an annual salary of over 100 million.”
Now, about a year later, the rumored star has addressed the discussions himself.
Michael Porter Jr., the forward for the Brooklyn Nets, appeared on a podcast, where he claimed that Xiao A La messaged him first.
Michael Porter Jr. | Curious Mike
I was out in Taiwan, and one thing about the women out there is that they stay very petite. […] So I was out there doing some appearances, and I get a DM from some woman out there… She looks kind of good to me, more like my type. And I respond to her, we ended up kicking it.
— Michael Porter Jr.
Porter says that he didn’t know that Xiao A La was transgender when they met, but that he “doesn’t care” about the response to the photo.
My homies are hitting me up like, ‘Yo, this is what you’re on,’ And I’m like, ‘I had no idea.’ I still don’t care.
— Porter
You can watch him talk about the interaction below.