WNBA Corridor of Famer and broadcaster Sheryl Swoopes held an X Areas on Tuesday to handle an issue relating to her earlier statements about Caitlin Clark and a severed friendship between herself and former WNBA coach Nancy Lieberman.
Swoopes has been criticized as a harsh and, by some, “unfair” critic of Clark courting again to the tip of Clark’s faculty profession. Swoopes infamously made questionable statements in regards to the size and statistics of Clark’s faculty profession, throughout an look on “Gil’s Area” podcast in February.
Whereas discussing the subject of how Clark broke the NCAA’s all-time basketball factors file in her senior yr in 2023, Swoopes mentioned Clark stayed in faculty for 5 seasons and took over 40 photographs per sport. Swoopes was additionally criticized for remark that included the phrase “25-year-old enjoying towards 18-year-olds,” throughout a dialogue about Clark’s faculty success, however Swoopes didn’t straight implicate Clark being older than her listed age.
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Texas Tech alumna Sheryl Swoopes attends the Texas Tech sport towards Baylor on Jan. 28, 2023, at United Supermarkets Area in Lubbock, Texas. (IMAGN)
Nevertheless, Clark performed 4 seasons whereas averaging simply 22.7 photographs per sport en path to the file. She was 22 when she completed her final faculty season earlier this yr.
Swoopes mentioned she “completely” takes credit score for “saying the mistaken issues,” however she additionally mentioned she wouldn’t apologize to anybody however Clark herself for it.
“I do not owe you all an apology,” Swoopes mentioned. “I reached out to Caitlin. We have had a fantastic dialog.”
Swoopes posted screenshots of textual content messages with a contact named Caitlin Clark, which befell in February, on X on Monday that reveals the previous participant apologizing.
Swoopes blamed confusion over the interruption of the COVID-19 pandemic on the 2020-2021 faculty basketball season for the error of suggesting Clark performed a fifth yr on the podcast.
“With COVID and all of these issues, I believed, sincere mistake however perhaps I am not allowed to make these, I believed it was Caitlin’s fifth yr,” Swoopes mentioned. “So the producer of the present appeared it up and mentioned ‘no it was her fourth yr’ on the present … I mentioned ‘ you understand what, whether it is her fourth yr and she or he breaks the file then nice, it’s a official file.'”
In regard to options about Clark being 25, Swoopes additionally credited confusion over the COVID-19 scenario, whereas additionally suggesting it was hyperbole.
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“I do not know if individuals perceive Hyperbole,” Swoopes mentioned on Tuesday. “With the COVID yr, you’ve got older individuals, women and men, enjoying towards youthful individuals due to the COVID yr and also you get an additional yr, so there could also be people who find themselves 23 and 24 … so I made that assertion but it surely wasn’t me saying ‘yeah effectively Caitlin is 25 enjoying towards 22 yr olds.’”
Swoopes additionally credit score hyperbole for the exaggeration about what number of photographs Clark takes per sport.
“Do I feel she takes 40 photographs a sport? No. Does she take lots of photographs, or did she in faculty? yeah! So as a substitute of claiming 40 I in all probability ought to have mentioned ‘she takes lots of photographs in faculty,’” Swoopes mentioned.
“It is like any person getingg on the elevator the opposite day, and any person mentioned ‘dang, she have to be 400 lbs!’ When, in actuality, you understand that ladies is just not 400 lbs!”
Swoopes was lately faraway from her common duties as a TV analyst for the Dallas Wings for a sport towards Clark’s Indiana Fever on Sunday. Lieberman stuffed in for Swoopes on the published. Then, throughout an look on “The Stephen A. Smith Present,” Lieberman mentioned her relationship with Swoopes is “just about finished” as a consequence of a current argument about Swoopes’ incorrect statements about Clark.
Caitlin Clark (Justin Casterline/Getty Photos)
“I known as her as a pal and I mentioned, ‘You’ll be able to say no matter you need … however you do must get the statistics proper. I imply, details matter,” Lieberman mentioned. “She acquired upset with me on the telephone, and I used to be like, ‘Sheryl, I’m not doing something to harm you.’ … So, our relationship just about is just not taking place at this level. I attempted to speak to her on the Remaining 4, she didn’t need to speak to me. My life goes to be good or nice with or with out Sheryl Swoopes in my life. I’d slightly have her in it.”
Swoopes responded to the clip in a submit on X, saying her life “was higher” with out Lieberman.
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Swoopes addressed the feud with Lieberman additional on Tuesday and urged {that a} telephone name between the 2 did not occur and that their disagreement stemmed from a social media interplay and a textual content alternate.
“What I do know did not occur was a telephone name from her,” Swoopes mentioned. “Nancy Lieberman determined she was going to be upset that I mentioned it was going to be an adjustment for Caitlin, Angel [Reese] and all of the rookies, however particularly Caitlin, and that I mentioned she wasn’t going to come back within the league and dominate immediately, and it is my opinion. And she or he acquired upset that I mentioned that, so she determined she was going to go to Twitter and name me out.
“Do not say you known as me to speak about that once you did not. You posted that on Twitter after which I responded to you, I texted you, and mentioned ‘Nancy when you have one thing to say, name me, since we’re alleged to be, quote, associates.'”
Swoopes, 53, is famously the primary participant to ever be signed within the WNBA when she joined the Houston Comets in 1997. She led Houston to 4 championships from 1997-2000 and was named league MVP 3 times in 2000, 2002 and 2005.
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