How Nancy Lieberman Reignited the Caitlin Clark-Sheryl Swoopes Drama

The Sheryl Swoopes and Caitlin Clark controversy seemed to have died down in recent months, but it’s back in full force. Now there’s a new party involved: Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman.

To refresh your memory, Swoopes has been under fire since 2023 for her thoughts on Clark breaking her NCAA single tournament scoring record. Things didn’t get any better in 2024 when Swoopes made inaccurate comments on a Gilbert Arenas podcast about Clark’s pursuit of Kelsey Plum’s NCAA scoring record.

Things got so out of hand over the course of several weeks that fans created “Don’t Be A Sheryl” (and “Be a Sheryl”) shirts expressing their opinions on the matter. Days later, Swoopes revealed that she had apologized to Clark and said that Clark’s decision to go to the WNBA was good for basketball.

That seemed to be the end of it, and despite the awkwardness of Swoopes interviewing Clark during a Dallas Wings preseason game, the two were friendly, and that was that — until they weren’t. Swoopes’ recent comments about Clark and the Indiana Fever have inflamed fans, reigniting the saga.

Here’s everything we know about the drama involving Sheryl Swoopes, Caitlin Clark and Nancy Lieberman:

Basketball fans outraged over alleged insult of Caitlin Clark by Sheryl Swoopes

During a August episode of Swoopes’s podcastSwoopes and her co-host Jordan Robinson discussed how the Olympic break helped the Fever. As the conversation continued, Swoopes didn’t mention Clark in the list of players she cited as reasons the Fever played so well.

That infuriated Fever and Clark fans — who were already upset over Swoopes’ comments on another podcast episode in July. (In the episode, Swoopes claimed the Fever would make the playoffs without Clark because of the stars they have on the roster. However, according to Robinson, (Many missed the full context of the conversation and the moment Swoopes praised Clark.)

The lack of recognition Swoopes felt caught the attention of Stephen A. Smith, who criticized Swoopes for her assessment.

Sheryl Swoopes’ lack of recognition for Caitlin Clark during broadcast has fans flaming

Things got even worse when fans noticed that Swoopes didn’t mention Clark during an Aces-Wings broadcast when she and Napheesa Collier were recognized as Players of the Week. (It’s worth noting that Collier wasn’t recognized by Swoopes either.)

Chatter immediately began to gain popularity in basketball circles. Days later, when the Wings played the Fever, Swoopes was not on the broadcast team and was replaced by her colleague, Nancy Lieberman.

Nancy Lieberman Pays Tribute to Caitlin Clark and What She Did for the WNBA

Lieberman was on hand when Fever and Wings played a tense back-and-forth thriller on September 1. During the match, Lieberman took a moment to share her thoughts on Clark’s critics. Here’s what she said:

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This article originally appeared on For The Win: How Nancy Lieberman Reignited the Caitlin Clark-Sheryl Swoopes Drama