Former NBA Player Puts Sheryl Swoopes On Blast For Caitlin Clark Assessment
WNBA icon Sheryl Swoopes made major waves once again earlier this week for a baseless comment on how she believes players on the Indiana Fever feel about playing alongside rookie Caitlin Clark.
"There's a lot of other s*** going on, that other [Fever] players are like 'This ain't where I want to be,'" Swoopes said on an episode of the "Gil's Arena" podcast. "So you have players that are very significant on this Indiana Fever team that are like, 'I don't... I don't think this is where I wanna be this year.'"
Swoopes was then asked to elaborate on where she heard this from.
"I'm not in the locker room. I don't know, I'm not even on the team. I'm talking about more social media," she answered; implying that she made it all up.
for those who wants to see the clip pic.twitter.com/4FXpughNAZ
— max (@maxylouvr) September 17, 2024
These polarizing comments have received a lot of criticism from the women's basketball community. And they even caught the attention of a former NBA player.
Sam Dekker is a University of Wisconsin basketball legend who was selected by the Houston Rockets with the No. 18 overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft. He spent three seasons with Houston (alongside superstar James Harden) before bouncing around on a few other NBA teams for three seasons and then playing overseas.
Dekker couldn't help but refute Swoopes' sentiment in an X post.
"Being on the Rockets with Prime Harden was the best shit ever. We were on National TV all the time, won a ton of huge games in awesome moments, and he made the game incredibly easy for guys like me. I don’t believe for a second that the team dislikes it," Dekker said in a reply to a video of Swoopes' Clark comments.
Being on the Rockets with Prime Harden was the best shit ever. We were on National TV all the time, won a ton of huge games in awesome moments, and he made the game incredibly easy for guys like me. I don’t believe for a second that the team dislikes it. https://t.co/IthvMtW6Up
— Sam Dekker (@dekker) September 18, 2024
Dekker's sentiment is what most people would expect playing alongside a superstar to be like. But it's nice to hear someone who has actually been in that situation refuting Swoopes.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.