‘Unjustified?’ Sheryl Swoopes Raises Eyebrows With Sharp Critique of Caitlin Clark’s Record-Breaking Moment

Sheryl Swoopes reacts to Caitlin Clark winning Time Magazine’s Athlete of the Year award. [photo: @indianafever/IG, @airswoopes22/IG]

On Tuesday, TIME Magazine announced Caitlin Clark as its Athlete of the Year awardee. She became the first WNBA player to earn the recognition. Clark had a historic run in the NCAA in 2024 and capped it off with a near-unanimous Rookie of the Year campaign in women’s pro basketball.

Clark’s incredible year also resulted in record attendance and viewership in many of her games. Even non-basketball fans started following the sport because of the Indiana Fever superstar.

On the No Chill podcast with Gilbert Arenas, co-host Josiah Johnson asked Sheryl Swoopes to comment about Clark winning the prestigious award. The WNBA legend responded:

“I don’t think I’m surprised. I’m curious to know who the other candidates were, but the fact that that’s the very first WNBA player to ever win TIME Magazine Athlete of the Year is pretty special.

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“My question is, the criteria, is it based off of her performance on the court, which she had a great year or is it more about the impact that she had on the game this season?”

Many have been blasting Swoopes for allegedly belittling Caitlin Clark’s accomplishments.

On the same podcast in February, the three-time WNBA MVP had made her infamous statement about the then-Iowa superstar. She said that Clark broke the NCAA all-time scoring record because she was in her fifth season and averaged over 40 shots per game.

Sheryl Swoopes claimed to have apologized to Clark for those comments. The point guard played for the Hawkeyes for four seasons and averaged 20.1 shots per game in 139 games.

After Caitlin Clark won the Athlete of the Year award from TIME Magazine, Swoopes called it “pretty special.” However, she wanted to know the other contenders and the body’s criteria in giving Clark that recognition.

Sheryl Swoopes refused to comment about Caitlin Clark’s statement about Black women in the WNBA

In the TIME Magazine interview, Caitlin Clark thanked Cynthia Cooper, Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, Dawn Staley and Maya Moore for blazing the path for her. Clark added:

“I want to say I’ve earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege. A lot of those players in the league that have been really good have been Black players. This league has kind of been built on them.

“The more we can appreciate that, highlight that, talk about that, and then continue to have brands and companies invest in those players that have made this league incredible, I think it’s very important. I have to continue to try to change that. The more we can elevate Black women, that’s going to be a beautiful thing.”

When Josiah Jackson asked Swoopes to comment about this statement, the four-time WNBA champ didn’t say anything.