WNBA great Sheryl Swoopes has apologized to Caitlin Clark over previous comments that downplayed the Iowa superstar’s record accomplishments and knocked her style of play.
“A couple of weeks ago, I reached out to (LSU star Angel Reese) and had a really good conversation with Angel over the phone and sent a message to Caitlin. She responded. She and I went back and forth,” Swoopes said during Sunday’s Baylor-Texas Tech game on ESPN, as transcribed by The Athletic. “I won’t share what she said, I’ll leave that to her if she wants to share. But I will say, what I said to her was, ‘I made a mistake in saying it was your fifth year when it is your fourth.’
“I have nothing but respect for what she has done for the game. If she wants to share what her response was and how that conversation went, I’ll leave that to her. But it was a really good conversation.”
Swoopes, a Hall of Famer and one of the most iconic WNBA players in the league’s history, recently found herself in some hot water for her commentary regarding Iowa’s star senior.
In analyzing Clark approaching Kelsey Plum’s all-time NCAA scoring record of 3,527 points — which the 22-year-old broke last Thursday in a win over Michigan — Swoopes dinged Clark for needing extra time when that was not the case.
Swoopes believed Clark had been using her Covid year, but the Hawkeyes guard is in her fourth year.
“Records are made and set to broken,” Swoopes said on “Gil’s Arena” with Gilbert Arenas on Jan. 29. “If you’re going to break a record, to me, if it’s legitimate you have to break that record in the same amount of time that that player set it in.
“So if Kelsey Plum set that record in four years, well Caitlin should have broke that record in four years. … She’s already had an extra year to break that record. So, is it truly a broken record?”
Swoopes did later clarify that she was not downplaying Clark’s chase of history.
“It’s not to take anything away from what she’s done, but if you’re talking about breaking records … if this player did it in this amount of time, then you should do it in that same amount of time,” Swoopes said.
Swoopes then stated how she believes Clark’s college dominance won’t immediately transfer to the next level.
“Will Caitlin Clark be a good pro? Absolutely,” Swoopes said. “Will Caitlin Clark come into the WNBA and do what she’s doing right now? Immediately, absolutely not. Not gonna happen.”
In explaining why she believes Clark won’t be the same player right away in the WNBA, Swoopes —according to some — took another dig when she said Clark “probably takes about 40 shots a game.”
Swoopes’ logic is that Clark won’t be able to do that at the next level.
Clark does not take 40 shots per game but is hoisting 22.7 shots per game.
Swoopes later said she was not taking shots.
“First off, I was asked for MY opinion,” she posted on Instagram in late January. “Not asking anyone to agree or disagree. Second, NEVER hatin on anybody! Wayyyyy too blessed for that! Third, I wish NOTHING but the best for AR and CC! Yall be blessed! Yall funny.”
Iowa’s social media team fired back at Swoopes with a tweet while Iowa fans had a shirt made up reading: “Don’t be a Sheryl.”
That all seemingly led to Swoopes asking Reese to put her contact with Clark, and the two apparently hashed it all out in a recent conversation.
Clark and the Hawkeyes are currently ranked fourth in the country with a record of 23-3 this season.
Iowa lost to Reese’s LSU squad in the national championship game last spring.