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WNBA legend Sheryl Swoopes has often made headlines for her critical comments about Caitlin Clark. Despite Clark's rise to stardom, Swoopes' remarks have frequently sparked controversy.
Swoopes, a pioneer in women’s basketball as the first player signed in the WNBA, is a three-time WNBA MVP and was named one of the league's Top 15 Players of All Time in 2011. After her playing career, she transitioned to coaching and being an analyst, where her critiques of Caitlin Clark have caught fans' attention.
Fans took note of Swoopes’ remarks even during the WNBA preseason.
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Here are five notable instances where Sheryl Swoopes criticized Caitlin Clark
#1, Downplaying Clark breaking Kelsey Plum’s record
On Gilbert Arenas’ “Gil’s Arena” show in January, Swoopes criticized Caitlin Clark as she approached Kelsey Plum’s NCAA scoring record.
“I say this: yes, records are made and set to be broken. But if you're going to break a record…to me, if it's legitimate, you have to break that record in the same amount of time that the player set it, right? So if Kelsey Plum set that record in four years, well, Caitlin should have broken that record in four years," she said.
"But because there's a COVID year and then there's another year, you know what I mean. So she's already had an extra year to break that record. So is it truly a broken record?”
Swoopes’ claim was incorrect as Plum scored 3,527 points in 139 games, while Clark broke the record in just 126 games.
#2, Misrepresenting Clark’s age
Swoopes inaccurately suggested that Clark was older than her NCAA competitors.
“But you have a 25-year-old playing against 20-year-olds. Like you should be killing them because you've been doing it a lot longer than they have,” she said.
Clark began her college career at 18 and finished at 22 years old.
#3, Exaggerating Clark’s shooting numbers
On the same podcast, Swoopes exaggerated Clark’s shooting frequency.
“Caitlin Clark right now probably takes about 40 shots a game,” she said. “I said that because when she comes to the league, regardless of what team she goes to that has vets on that team, she's probably ain’t gonna get 40 shots a game.”
Clark averaged 22.7 field goal attempts per game in her senior year.
#4, Calling Clark a ‘bully’ for pushing off
Swoopes criticized Clark’s playing style, accusing her of frequently pushing off defenders.
“I mean if you want to talk about bullies, we can talk about each time Caitlin has the ball she pushes off,” she said.
#5, Downplaying Clark’s impact on the Fever
On her podcast "Queens of the Court," Swoopes questioned Caitlin Clark's influence on the Indiana Fever, arguing the team was strong without her.
"Is Indiana in the playoffs right now, without Caitlin?...When you look at the overall team, like the pieces that they have, without question, Indiana has better players than Chicago from top to bottom. No doubt about it," she said.
According to WNBA advanced stats, the Fever's offensive rating is 103.6 with Clark on the floor and drops to 93.9 without her. Clark is averaging 17.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, and a league-leading 8.2 assists this season. She also set the single-game record for assists (19) and recorded the first rookie triple-double in WNBA history.
