When Caitlin Clark became the highest scorer in the NCAA Tournament with 191 points in the April 2022-23 season, Sheryl Swoopes wasn’t happy.
The WNBA legend opined that while she had set the 177-point record in 5 games, Clark took one more to break it. Next, Swoopes took her criticism to another level when this year Clark surpassed Kelsey Plum as the all-time leading scorer in women’s NCAA D1 basketball.
While Clark ignored her comments one more time, Swoopes didn’t shy away from condemning her after she made it to the WNBA, which had enraged Clark’s fans.
And now adding fuel to the fire, Swoopes lauded Clark’s rival Angel Reese recently, even though Clark is the one taking her team to new heights.
Swoopes was present on the Queens of the Court podcast on Tuesday when she spoke at length about all things women’s basketball.
Taking cognizance of Clark’s latest records, she chose to shed light on her rival Reese and instead lauded the former Bayou-Barbie for her performances despite the Chicago Sky losing 2 games by blowout margins, which also makes Swoopes Clark’s biggest critic.
“Shout out to Angel Reese even in a loss. Say what you want to say about how she is getting these rebounds, you can’t get 20 rebounds. I don’t care if you’re rebounding your own. But the thing is with Angel… Angel just has a knack for the basketball. Angel is just going to go get the basketball. She is constantly giving her team more possessions. And I wanna say this moon, I am going to text about it, I should say this right now I needed her to let her stay in the game to get 20 points. she had 19 A 20, 20. But I’ll take even a 19 and 20 even in a loss,” Swoopes stated on Tuesday via Queens of the Court podcast.
Though Reese has scored double-doubles in all three games after the Olympics break, nonetheless she lost two of them by blowout margins. During the game matchup against Phoenix Mercury on Friday, Reese tried her best to save her team but eventually lost by an 85-65 margin.
When Reese & Co. were given a chance to avenge their defeats on Monday against Mercury, the Sky once again failed to live up to the expectations and were bamboozled by an 86-68 tally.
However, what stuck Swoopes was that Reese hit 19 points with 20 rebounds in the game and the 53-year-old didn’t give up on the opportunity to laud the Chi-Town Barbie which apparently didn’t go well with Clark’s fans.
Clark on the other hand has come out re-energized after the Olympic break, helping her team win both their games against the Phoenix Mercury and the Seattle Storm, respectively.
Plus they are also furious since this is not the first time that Swoopes has overtly or subtly chosen to ignore or criticize Clark.
Sheryl Swoopes’ long-standing feud with Caitlin Clark
As mentioned before, the feud between Clark and Swoopes started in April last year when the NCAA Queen surpassed Swoopes as the leading scorer in the D1 Tournament.
The WNBA legend had then come out to voice her dissatisfaction with Clark, opining that Clark had taken 6 games to break her record which was set in just 5 clashes by Swoopes.
Then when Clark eclipsed Kelsey Plum as the all-time leading NCAA D1 women’s basketball scorer, Swoopes mistakenly refuted that Clark didn’t deserve much applause since she took an extra COVID year to etch her name in history books.
After Clark had made it to the WNBA, Swoopes once again expressed that Clark was merely a passer and the Indiana Fever had a better lineup than the Chicago Sky.
Hence, the Fever making it to the playoffs doesn’t solely rest on Clark whereas her rival Reese has singlehandedly propelled the Sky to a place from where they can make it to the elimination rounds. All this makes Swoopes Clark’s biggest critic.
If that wasn’t enough, Swoopes has once again annoyed Clark’s fans by praising Reese instead of Clark on Tuesday. Even though it is highly unlikely that Clark will respond, hopefully, she will settle all debate when she takes the hardwood next in the WNBA.
