Speaking during a recent interview on “Gil’s Arena,” a podcast with former NBA player Gilbert Arenas, former WNBA “legend,” at least for the WNBA, Sheryl Swoopes attacked beloved new WNBA player Caitlin Clark, who has helped deliver much attention to the league despite the recent attacks on her during games, such as by Angel Reese.
Commenting on Clark, Swoopes claimed that, even in the context of Chicago Sky player Angel Reese hitting Clark in the head in a flagrant foul, it is not Clark who is the victim of bullying, Rather, she claimed, it is Clark who is the bully, a ridiculous proposition given Clark’s generally pleasant demeanor and dedication to her Christian faith.
Swoopes’ comments came when Arenas rightly pointed out that Reese “is built for trying to be a bully” with her “rugged style” of basketball play. Arenas then added that Clark is a “flopper” and was born to be one. Swoopes didn’t agree. Instead of finding common ground or agreement, she said that Reese is not a bully and that, rather, it is Clark who is one.
Snapping back at Arenas for what he said about Reese, an often unpleasant player, “She’s not a bully. I mean, if you want to talk about bullies, we can talk about every time Caitlin [Clark] has the ball she pushes off. I’m just saying.” Reese, for reference, hit Clark in the head and was assessed a Flagrant 1 penalty for the hit. She racked up five personal fouls in that one game alone.
Arenas said, speaking about Clark, “She physically can handle herself,” He continued, “… The way she plays the game is a rugged style. She’s built for, let’s combat, put our hard hats on. I don’t care who it is.” He then said, speaking about Clark and Reese, “… One’s a flopper. We know that. We understand that… One is built for taking flops. That’s just the way she’s built her game.”
He added, “So, any contact she feels she’s gonna flop a little bit, and that’s how she sells her fouls.” Contrasting that with Reese, he insisted that Reese is, in fact, a bully, regardless of the claims of Swoopes. He said, “But with Angel, she’s rugged. She’s built for trying to bully. She’s a bully, right. No one feels sorry for the bullier.”
Swoopes kept attacking Clark and defending Reese. She said, insisting that hitting Clark in the head was a “basketball play,” “It’s the clip they wanna post because they’re gonna get all these likes and reposts, but that’s a basketball play. She hit her on the head, so, of course, it should be upgraded to a flagrant 1. The ref looked at it. They upgraded it. Can we keep playing basketball?”
She continued, saying that the hit on the head was, for some reason, not assault, “My thing is, every time Caitlin gets fouled, we can’t make it seem like she was assaulted. Fouling is a part of basketball. You can look at a whole lot of different games and players and clips. A’ja Wilson, when they played Dallas, A’ja had a bloody nose and a black eye — it’s basketball… Then you got to social media and immediately, ‘Oh my goodness, she’s trying to take her out,’ [and] ‘she should be suspended.’ Who are you? And what did you do?”
Concluding, Swoopes insisted that the flagrant fouls on Clark were just part of basketball, saying, “Basketball is a physical sport. It just is, and I think what people are doing or saying when it comes to Angel Reese, Chennedy Carter when it comes to the Chicago Sky, I think it’s coming from people that really don’t know the game and understand basketball.”
Reese was similarly unrepentant after the foul, insisting that the refs were to blame. Watch her here:
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