WNBA Hall of Famer Sheryl Swoopes addressed her controversial absence from the broadcast booth at a Dallas Wings game featuring Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever earlier this year. Swoopes has been harshly critical of Clark, sometimes drawing backlash from the WNBA and fellow media outlets such as Stephen A. Smith and Nancy Lieberman.
Swoopes did not serve as a color commentator for the Wings' game against the Fever on Bally Sports Southwest on September 1st.
Swoopes said that's because he only signed a seven-game contract with the Wings and had already played all of his terms by the Sept. 1 game against the Fever. She made that explanation Thursday in an interview on WNBA rookie Angel Reese's podcast, while also addressing rumors that she was fired.
“They're like, 'Oh, Sheryl was replaced, they fired her, they kicked her out of the match, because it's Caitlin Clark, and she can't play that match. It was,” Swoopes said. “I was under contract to play seven Dallas Wings games, so I wasn't supposed to play in that game anyway. But there were other things going on, so they decided I wasn't going to play in that game. I just assumed it was because I didn't have it and, well, they fired me, but really my contract was up…and that was it, it didn't matter.”
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Sheryl Swoopes of the Houston Comets poses for a portrait during Game 3 of the WNBA Finals in Houston on September 5, 1999. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
Speculation as to why Swoopes did not participate in the Fever game calls was influenced by Swoopes and Clark's history. Swoopes has been critical of the phenom rookie since his college days at the University of Iowa, even making misleading suggestions about his college career in February.
Swoopes suggested Clark would play five years at Iowa and receive an additional year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Swoopes commented during his appearance. “Gil's Arena” Clark aired a podcast in February aimed at discrediting the fact that he broke the NCAA's all-time scoring record.
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame on September 2nd, the night after the Wings lost a game against the Fever that Swoopes did not call. posted a suspicious screenshot In a conversation with a contact named Clark, she apologized for her remarks. The next day, Swoopes hosted a public space for X and addressed the false claims, saying he refused to apologize to anyone other than Clark.
Swoopes said on his podcast that Clark was wrong to suggest he would play for a fifth year, blaming the disruption caused by the suspension of the 2020-2021 college basketball season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever walks to the basket during Game 2 of Game 1 of the WNBA Playoffs against the Connecticut Sun at Mohegan Sun Arena on September 25, 2024 in Uncasville, Connecticut. (Chris Marion/NBAE via Getty Images)
“I thought it was an honest mistake, given COVID and everything like that, but I'm probably not allowed to do something like that. I thought it was Kaitlyn's fifth year. ” Swoopes said. “So the producers of the show looked into it and said, 'No, she's in her fourth year on the show'…I said, 'Look, if she's in her fourth year and she breaks the record, that's great. That's a valid record. ”
Lieberman, who also served as a color commentator for the Wings and called the game vs. the Fever, appeared on “The Stephen A. Smith Show” that same week and said his relationship with Swoopes was “pretty much over.” Recent discussion regarding Swoopes' false statements about Clark.
“As a friend, I called her and said, 'You can say whatever you want…but you have to get the statistics right. So the facts are important,'” Lieberman said. She got mad at me on the phone and I said, “Cheryl, I didn't do anything to hurt you''…so that's pretty much our relationship at this point. It's not progressing. I tried to talk to her at the Final Four and she told me that my life would be better and better with or without Sheryl Swoopes. I want it.”
Swoopes even denied the idea that the call was made during her public X-Space event.
Swoopes recently appeared on another show, “Gill's Arena,” in September, and said that despite Clark breaking single-season assist and rookie scoring records and finishing in the top five, He said he did not believe he was “dominant.” MVP vote.
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Sheryl Swoopes of the Houston Comets' WNBA Most Valuable Player poses for photographers at ARCO Arena on September 18, 2005 in Sacramento, California. (Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)
“I've never questioned whether Kaitlyn is a good player. I think she's a hell of a player,” Swoopes explained. “I thought it would take her time to adjust professionally, and for me, I think she was exactly that.”
However, Swoopes maintains that he has a good relationship with Clark and that speculations that the two don't like each other are untrue.
“A lot of what people are trying to say is there, it's just not there,” Swoopes said. “I’m sick of it, I’m really fed up of it, and I can only imagine she must be fed up of it too, but there was nothing there.
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