Sheryl Swoopes explains mysterious broadcast absence with Caitlin Clark game amid awkward history

WNBA Hall of Famer Sheryl Swoopes addressed a controversial absence from the broadcast booth for the Dallas Wings that occurred earlier this year, a game that featured Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever. Swoopes has been a harsh critic of Clark, sometimes inciting backlash from WNBA and media peers like Stephen A. Smith and Nancy Lieberman. 

Swoopes did not serve as color commentator for the Wings broadcast on Bally Sports Southwest in the team's game against the Fever on Sept. 1. 

Swoopes said that the reason for this was because she was only signed to a seven-game contract with the Wings and that she had already fulfilled all the appearances on those terms before the Sept. 1 game against the Fever. She gave the explanation in an interview on WNBA rookie Angel Reese's podcast on Thursday while also addressing rumors that she had been fired.

"They were like, ‘Oh Sheryl was replaced, they fired her, they kicked her off the game because it’s Caitlin Clark, and she can't do that game,'" Swoopes said. "I was contracted to do seven Dallas Wings games, so I was never supposed to do that game anyway. But because of everything else, they just kind of figured that because I didn't do that game, well, they fired me, but really my contract was up … and that was it, it wasn't a thing." 

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Speculation as to why Swoopes was not on the call for the Fever game was influenced by Swoopes' history with Clark. Swoopes has been a critic of the rookie phenom since her college career at Iowa and even made misleading suggestions about her college career in February. 

Swoopes suggested that Clark played five years at Iowa and got an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Swoopes made the comments during an appearance on "Gil's Arena" podcast in February in an effort to discredit the fact that Clark broke the NCAA all-time scoring record. 

Then on Sept. 2, the night after the Wings' loss to the Fever that Swoopes did not call, the Hall of Famer posted alleged screenshots of a conversation with a contact named Clark in which she apologized for the statements. The next day, Swoopes hosted a public spaces on X where she addressed the false claims while saying she would refuse to apologize to anyone but Clark. 

Swoopes blamed confusion over the interruption of the COVID-19 pandemic on the 2020-2021 college basketball season for the mistake of suggesting Clark played a fifth year on the podcast. 

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"With COVID and all of those things, I thought, honest mistake, but maybe I'm not allowed to make those. I thought it was Caitlin's fifth year," Swoopes said. "So, the producer of the show looked it up and said, ‘No, it was her fourth year,’ on the show … I said ‘ You know what, if it is her fourth year, and she breaks the record, then great, it’s a legitimate record.'"

Lieberman, who also serves as a color commentator for the Wings and called the games against the Fever, said during an appearance on "The Stephen A. Smith Show" that same week that her relationship with Swoopes is "pretty much done" due to a recent argument about Swoopes' incorrect statements about Clark. 

"I called her as a friend and I said, ‘You can say whatever you want … but you do have to get the statistics right. I mean, facts matter," Lieberman said. "She got upset with me on the phone, and I was like, ‘Sheryl, I’m not doing anything to hurt you.’ … So, our relationship pretty much is not happening at this point. I tried to talk to her at the Final Four, she didn’t want to talk to me. My life is going to be good or great with or without Sheryl Swoopes in my life. I’d rather have her in it."

Swoopes denied the notion that that phone call ever even took place during her public X spaces event. 

Swoopes more recently said during another appearance on "Gil's Arena" in September that she didn't believe that Clark's rookie season was "dominating" despite the fact that Clark broke the single-season assists record, rookie scoring record and finished top-5 in MVP voting. 

"I’ve never questioned if Caitlin was a good player; I think she’s a hell of a player," Swoopes explained. "My thing was, I thought it would take her some time to adjust to being a professional, and to me, I think that’s exactly what she’s done."

However, Swoopes insists that she has a good relationship with Clark and any speculation that the two don't like each other isn't true. 

"A lot of the stuff that people are trying to say is there, it just does not exist," Swoopes said. "I'm tired of it, I really am, and I can only imagine that she has to be tired of it as well. But there was nothing there.

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