Sheryl Swoopes’ Odd Takes On Caitlin Clark Are A Huge Contrast From How Cynthia Cooper Feels

Here we go again. Former WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes is making statements about Caitlin Clark that make absolutely no sense.

During an appearance this week on Gilbert Arenas’s podcast, Swoopes once again made some nonsensical claims about the de facto WNBA rookie of the year.

First, she claimed Caitlin Clark has been “impressive” but not dominant. She made this statement despite the fact that Clark’s numbers this year are better than the three years that Swoopes won the WNBA MVP Award.

These are Sheryl Swoopes MVP numbers…
(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

— Daddy (@MrSmithMarrero) September 17, 2024

As the X (Twitter) account Clark Report noted in response to Sheryl Swoopes once again dismissing just how good Caitlin Clark has been this year, “Swoopes does not consider Caitlin Clark’s 19.5 PPG, 5.7 RPG, and 8.4 APG this season to be ‘dominant.’ She is the only player in WNBA history to average those numbers or better.”

Then, in another clip of Sheryl Swoopes’ conversation with Arenas and crew, she claims there are players, big name players, on the Indiana Fever who don’t want to be on the team now that Caitlin Clark is there.

Seriously. She said that.

“There’s a lot of other [expletive] going on that players are like, ‘This ain’t where I want to be.’ … It’s a lot,” Swoopes said. “So you have players that are very significant on this Indiana Fever team that are like, this ain’t where I want to be.”

for those who wants to see the clip pic.twitter.com/4FXpughNAZ

— max (@maxylouvr) September 17, 2024

What is she talking about?

Meanwhile, another former WNBA player that many argue is the GOAT of the league, and not Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, had nothing but the highest of praise for Caitlin Clark when she appeared on the Mark Jackson Show last week.

“Caitlin Clark, 28 and 12,” Cooper said, “winning on the road with Kelsey Mitchell. The absolute truth. I’m sitting there like, ‘oh my God.’ She’s so crafty.

“This is what people don’t know about Caitlin. She’s not just a three-point shooter. She’s a great passer. Not a mediocre passer, not so-so, she is a great passer. But also she’s crafty.

“I saw her get the get the ball, lay it up on the back door cut. Like, they waiting for her to pop out to the three-point line. Boom, she slips back door gets that bucket, like, she is crafty. And she’s just a rookie. She’s just a rookie. That level of greatness, that level of play on a consistent basis as a rookie puts you up in the upper echelon of any league.”

Quite the contrast from how Sheryl Swoopes has been talking about Clark all season.

“She’s our future,” Cooper would later say about Clark.

(By the way, Cooper thinks she was better than Swoopes as well.)