"The past & The present": Angel Reese shares heartwarming snap with Sheryl Swoopes days after 4X WNBA champ got critical about her and Caitlin Clark

The past and present bests of collegiate women's basketball met on the court recently. Angel Reese took to Twitter to share a picture with Sheryl Swoopes with a caption:

"The Past & The Present I love you"

While this may be a sweet moment and a show of support between two talented women, there is more to this story. And it involves another collegiate great, Caitlin Clark.

Sheryl Swoopes' comments on Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark

During an appearance on Gilbert Arenas' show on YouTube, Swoopes took shots but with completely wrong stats. When talking about the NCAAW all-time scoring record, the WNBA champion assumed that Clark was in her fifth year and was 25 years old. Caitlin Clark is in her fourth year and is only 22.

Swoopes also stated that the Iowa guard was taking "about 40 shots a game". It is actually 22.7 field goals per game this season less than what Sheryl Swoopes did in her college career. Kelsey Plum achieved her record in 139 games while Clark did it in 126.

The comments put Sheryl Swoopes in a hot spot and drew backlash from fans. Some Iowa fans even wore shirts that said "Don’t Be A Sheryl" to the Feb. 8 game against Penn State. Amidst all this, Angel Reese even tweeted:

“I want to be like @airswoopes22.”

Swoopes has since admitted to her mistake and shared that she has also personally apologized to Caitlin Clark.

"A couple of weeks ago, I reached out to Angel and had a really good conversation with Angel over the phone and sent a message to Caitlin. She responded. She and I went back and forth."

"I have nothing but respect for what she has done for the game. If she wants to share what her response was and how that conversation went, I’ll leave that to her. But it was a really good conversation," said Swoopes.

Despite her comments, the 52-year-old also acknowledged that both Angel Reese and Cailin Clark are great players. While they may not be able to have an impact on the WNBA immediately after the draft, she shared they will get there. Sheryl Swoopes said on Gil's Arena:

“I do think — those two players — not only will get there, but they will be helluva WNBA players. They will get there. But more than that, their popularity, I think will absolutely be good for the league and bring in fans that the league hasn’t had before. And that is something the league needs right now.”

While Sheryl Swoopes is not entirely wrong in her assessment of the young stars. The veteran could have avoided the backlash had she been more careful in looking at Clark.