Caitlin Clark’s former Indiana Fever coach Christie Sides should get more credit for her time with the team, at least that is what WNBA legend Sheryl Swoopes believes.
In a recent podcast interview, Swoopes discussed the hot topic of Indiana Fever letting go of their former head coach, highlighting that she has done a great job, particularly in handling the “Caitlin Mania.”
“That’s a lot to take on,” Swoopes said about the task Sides had in handling Fever. “And the expectations of, ‘Well, you got Caitlin at the number 1 pick [in the 2024 WNBA Draft],’ so you guys… cause there were people who were saying [Indiana] should win the championship. Now, y’all, be realistic. I was very realistic. Yeah, they should make the playoffs, which they did.”
Despite everything else that can be said about how the Fever, Caitlin Clark, Sides, and everything else in between turned out, Swoopes still believes that with what she had to work with, the former coach still did well.
“I think Christie did as good of a job as she could have,” Swoopes continued. “Managing all of the craziness, all of the Caitlin mania, all of the hype, all of the media. It was just so much that came with that. There was so much she had to deal with.”
Christie has not much to say about her leaving Fever, aside from a candid X post that said: “Leave it better than you found it.”
Caitlin Clark Gets a Highlight From Trump
In a recent interview prior to the US presidential polls, then presidentiable and now president-elect Donald Trump praised the skill of Caitlin Clark while touching on the issue of pay equity in women’s sports, calling the young prodigy “unbelievable.”
“The league could probably go up and give her a bonus,” Trump said about the topic. “It wouldn’t kill the league if the league is doing okay. The league could really do something with her because it seems unfair, but you have a lot of that. I see it all the time with football and baseball, even basketball, where somebody comes in and turns out to be 10 times better.”
Currently, Caitlin Clark has a base salary of $76,000 for playing for the WNBA. She earns way more through NIL deals, with an estimate of $3.5 million annually. Clark stands fourth in NIL valuation, with LeBron “Bronny” James Jr on top, and Shedeur Sanders, and Livvy Dunne coming in at second and third spots, respectively.
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Dan has been active in sports since 2016 and has worked behind the scenes as a scriptwriter for basketball, volleyball, and other sports. At a time, Dan has also been working as a sports commentator for CBA Pilipinas. During the pandemic, he has also been actively writing betting articles for CashBet and BetNow.
