Sheryl Swoopes brings on the heavy criticism herself. What with her constant jabs and attempts to downplay Caitlin Clark’s accomplishments in the WNBA.
But fans have been particularly unkind to her of late. And honestly, it’s hilarious.
First up, social media erupted when Clark broke the WNBA rookie scoring record in a hard-fought victory over the Dallas Wings over the weekend. Clark scored a career-best 35 points on her record-breaking night.
One X account noted that the 35 points tops the career high for Swoopes, who dropped 34 points against Seattle in the summer of 2005.
Swoopes is a four-time WNBA champ and a three-time league MVP, but she’s never scored as many points as the Indiana Fever rookie did.
“Somebody check to see if [Swoopes] is okay,” one fan wrote.
Sheryl Swoopes’ career high is 34 points.
— BricksCenter (@BricksCenter) September 16, 2024
Caitlin Clark just beat it with 35 as a rookie. pic.twitter.com/jiFDSszl4P
Caitlin Clark Fans Taunting Sheryl Swoopes
The same year Sheryl Swoopes scored her career-high of 34 points was the same year she won her third WNBA MVP award.
And fans couldn’t help but point out that Clark seems to be ahead of the former Houston Comets star in most major statistical categories as a rookie.
Sheryl Swoopes' MVP season vs Caitlin Clark's rookie year 🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/aymzRbhTXc
— IUWonka 🌴 (@HoosierFever) September 2, 2024
That post is a little bit outdated because, fast forward two weeks later and Caitlin Clark is ahead of Sheryl Swoopes in points per game as well.
Clark is averaging 19.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 8.4 assists per game in 2024. Swoopes, by contrast, averaged 18.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game in 2005.
“I’m sure Sheryl is very happy for her,” an X subscriber observed.
And if you want to compare rookie seasons, Clark wipes her out statistically.
RELATED: Caitlin Clark Sets WNBA Rookie Scoring Record, Passing First Player She Met As A Kid: ‘Always A Fan’
Why The Animosity?
This is all good-natured ribbing being thrown in Sheryl Swoopes’ direction by fans of WNBA sensation Caitlin Clark. In reality, it has very little bearing on anything.
Robert Horry has more championship rings than Michael Jordan. Nobody thinks he was a better player.
35 points and breaking rookie records left and right are great, but Clark has a long way to go before she has a resume nearly as impressive as that of Swoopes.
But, as I stated, Swoopes brings a lot of this on herself. She’s been embarrassing as a WNBA analyst since she tried to downplay Clark’s all-time NCAA scoring record by falsely claiming she needed a fifth season at Iowa to top Kelsey Plum.
Earlier this season, Swoopes analyzed a winning streak by the Indiana Fever and went out of her way to give everybody on the team credit for the turnaround except for their point guard.
She went silent for an awkward amount of time while her co-host mentioned Clark’s Player of the Week honors shortly after that. Then, Swoopes posted private text messages between her and Clark to prove she apologized to her for spreading misinformation about her scoring record.
Based on this season’s body of work, Caitlin Clark will be able to retire from the WNBA one day, become a broadcaster off the court, and immediately be better at it than Swoopes. Just like she has been this season on the court.
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