At this point, Sheryl Swoopes is little more than a bargain-basement version of Stephen A. Smith. Whereas Smith has his shtick where he picks on the Dallas Cowboys relentlessly instead of providing valuable commentary, Swoopes is doing the same with Indiana rookie Caitlin Clark.
She’s a Caitlin hater. There’s no other way to describe her. And honestly, it makes for incredibly bad analysis from somebody who is a basketball analyst.
Swoopes continued her unparalleled streak of inane commentary when it comes to Clark, suggesting her rookie season has not been “dominating”.
“Those are hella good numbers,” she said of Clark’s stats this season in a conversation with Gilbert Arenas on the “Gil’s Arena” podcast. “But, to me, that’s not dominating.”
Swoopes does not consider Caitlin Clark's 19.5 PPG, 5.7 RPG, and 8.4 APG this season to be "dominant"
— Clark Report (@CClarkReport) September 17, 2024
She is the only player in WNBA history to average those numbers or better pic.twitter.com/VM1i5CayNL
Sheryl Swoopes Continued Shading Caitlin Clark
The irony here is that Sheryl Swoopes is kind of putting down her own statistics with that statement. As has been pointed out here at Bounding Into Sports, Caitlin Clark’s numbers are at least comparable, if not more impressive than Swoopes last MVP season in 2005.
She doubled down on the assessment that Clark hasn’t been dominating.
“People were like, ‘Oh my God, you said she wouldn’t be good,’ but I didn’t say she wouldn’t be good,” Swoopes said. “What I said was I didn’t think Caitlin, or Angel, would come into the league and dominate immediately, which I don’t think either of them did.”
“I still don’t think [Clark’s] dominating, but she’s a different player than she was in the first half of the season.”
These are Sheryl Swoopes MVP numbers…
— Daddy (@MrSmithMarrero) September 17, 2024
(2000) – 20.7 ppg, 4.0 ast, 6.3 rpg
(2002) – 18.5 ppg, 3.3 ast, 4.9 rpg
(2005) – 18.6 ppg, 4.3 ast, 3.6 rpg
These Are Caitlin Clark’s Rookie Numbers
(2024) – 19.5 ppg, 8.4 ast, 5.7 rpg
If Caitlin isn’t dominant now, Swoopes never was 🤷🏽♂️ pic.twitter.com/i3lDLKWYqJ
I dunno, Sheryl. She’s breaking records and putting up stats never before seen in the league on a nearly nightly basis. It seems like she might be pretty good.
Here’s a comparison of Clark’s stats during her rookie season to the three MVP seasons Swoopes put up in 2000, 2002, and 2005.
If Caitlin isn’t dominant, then Sheryl never was either.
RELATED: Sheryl Swoopes Is Now Abandoning Friendships Over Caitlin Clark Feud: Report
But Angel Reese Exceeded Expectations More Than Caitlin
Making the commentary even more absurd, is the fact that Sheryl Swoopes went on to claim Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese had exceeded expectations, even more so than Caitlin Clark.
“To me Angel may have exceeded expectations, even more so than Caitlin,” Swoopes said. “When you’re drafted No. 1, you’re drafted No. 1 for a reason.”
You know why she was drafted number one? Because she’s dominant.
At this point, it’s safe to say Swoopes is little more than a bitter relic of the WNBA who simply does not want her own legacy to be surpassed by a girl from Iowa.
Unfortunately for her, it’s happening anyway. This past weekend, Clark scored a career-best 35 points and broke the WNBA rookie scoring record.
Swoopes never scored that many points in a game in her entire career. She’s never been that dominating.
Meanwhile, Clark will be the runaway hands-down winner of the Rookie of the Year Award this season. And while it seems unlikely she’ll win, Caitlin is at least in the conversation for league MVP after turning Indiana into an above .500 team headed to the playoffs.
Reese and Swoopes will be able to watch her in the playoffs while talking about it on their podcasts.
More about:WNBA News
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