Sheryl Swoopes has been in hot water for her refusal to talk about Caitlin Clark’s stellar rookie season. Her disdain for the Fever star reportedly played a role in her decision to skip her color commentary duties for Indiana’s trip to Dallas to take on the Wings. Her replacement, Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman, wasn’t too pleased about Swoopes’ behavior and called her out for it.
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On the latest episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show, the 66-year-old tore into the WNBA icon for letting her opinion about Clark affect her job as a commentator. She urged Swoopes to reflect on her issues with the rookie. Lieberman told Stephen A. Smith,
“You get paid to do a job as a broadcaster, do your job. Nobody says you have to be in love with anybody else but if you’re gonna do an Indiana-Wings game, you’re gonna have to talk about Caitlin Clark and her great teammates and what they are doing. They have Aliyah Boston, they have Kelsey Mitchell who’s just bananas, and Caitlin Clark, why wouldn’t you build around it?”
The Hall of Famer urged Swoopes to shed her ego and recognize Clark’s greatness. She noted that the Fever star often paid homage to the four-time WNBA champion and other retired greats. She claimed that women’s basketball icon should follow suit.
Lieberman added that the commentator was doing a disservice to women’s basketball by ignoring the achievements of the player tasked with carrying the sport on her back. Swoopes’ issues with Clark first surfaced when she claimed that the young guard breaking the all-time NCAA scoring record wasn’t impressive.
She claimed that the then-Iowa Hawkeyes star was in her fifth college basketball season and she was in her mid-20s playing against teenagers. Neither statement was factually accurate.
Lieberman contacted Swoopes to scold her for passing judgment about a player’s achievement without knowing the facts. However, that did not sit well with the commentator, who ended her 32-year friendship with the Hall of Famer
Here you go! This is from February. pic.twitter.com/n7m9v4FPlE
— Sheryl Swoopes (@airswoopes22) September 2, 2024
The four-time WNBA champion apologized to Clark on Instagram for making false claims about her and the guard graciously accepted it. However, that wasn’t enough to get the Fever star in Swoopes’ good books.
It’s unclear why the women’s basketball icon has issues with the rookie. But she’s unwilling to let it go.
