Stephen A's Takes: WNBA Legend Cynthia Cooper calls out former teammate Sheryl Swoopes!

Published Sep 12, 2024, 2:00 PM

Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown. 

Cynthia Cooper calls on WNBA legends like Sheryl Swoopes to support the next generation: We have to bridge the gap.

Let's get some quick hitters before I get on out of here for the day. I'll start with podcasts Gil's Arena.

Where they recently debated the greatest.

Team in NBA history, and the argument got heated as Nick Young insists that title belongs to the twenty eighteen Golden State Warriors.

Take a listen, but do you really.

Believe the twenty eighteen Warriors are the best team ever assembled? Yeah? I think so, just cause you know, nobody being Steph fanning KT together. I got one question the two thousand and one two three version of Shaquille O'Neill.

Who's gonna guard?

Who the fuck is gonna guard him? From y'all team?

Who gonna guard Steph? And kd own that team? Who gonna guard? Who will start Stephan? Katy's three? Gary Fisher?

Gary Fisher was a damn damn good defense off that many screens chase damn good defense. Yes he was. That's all he had to is, like said the one yo man who bucking Tyron Win raised Hey Yll hash on winning around Curry. That's my question.

Curry, y'all roster, who's guarding him?

Who's going because Kobe gonna have to guard Clay. Y'all gonna be in the pill Rick guard k game?

What's having a rick? Fox?

Y'all in the is gonna be swinging.

We're gonna have to guard y'all?

Right, Who's going Kobe?

Think about it?

Who going Kobe Dollar?

Not a chance, mad. Respect to all of those brothers. They got a great podcast.

Good see Kenny Martin and Swaggy Pee talking basketball and all of that stuff. But respectfully, I got a question for both of y'all. Y'all help me out, please kill you can joint help me out.

Brother.

We just gonna forget the nineteen ninety five ninety six Chicago Bulls that went seventy two and ten and ran through Cats and winning the championship. Were gonna forget Michael Jordan with Scottie Pippen.

And Dennis Robmin.

We gonna forget how volatile a game of basketball was then and how you could get away with stuff then that you couldn't get away with now. Kmart because you know better than me, Bro, Swaggy p you know better than me.

Y'all played shoit. I ain't in y'all class, y'all know.

Come on now, and when you look at yeah you know, you ain't got nobody to guard Shack or anything like that, but you got eighteen fouls to give.

If you look back at that team from the big man spot.

We'll look longly in those brothers. You got those eighteen foules to give. You could send Shack to the faith the free throw line.

He gonna hit fifty percent of them.

You got Jordan, you got Pippin, you got Robman, you got Cats coming off the bench.

You got Ron Harper, who was a big time defender.

I'm not saying you chasing Steph around, but you know KD is phenomenal though as he is it's phenomenal as he is Clay. It's a physicality. We gotta take that into consideration. That's all I'm saying. These were elite defenders. I'm saying, ninety five ninety six Chicago Bulls. I got to put them right there. I got to put them right there. Holler at me if y'all want to, we could have that discussion. I mean, damn, we could have that one. Let me move on to the next subject, where Cynthia Cooper is called on a WNBA legends like Cheryl's swoops to support the next generation of players like Caitlyn Clark. Rightfully, so, Cynthia Cooper, way to go, because we all know that Cheryl's swoops has really hurt herself.

She's made herself look very bad.

It's one of the great great champions and Olympic gold medalists, a national champion in college, a multiple multiple championship, three championships in the w NBA.

Look at this court right here.

From Citia Cooper, it's so incredibly important that we bridge the gap between what's going on today and what we experienced. It will help the younger generation to know our experiences so that they don't make the same mistakes and we continue to soar and grow as a league.

Here's the reality.

Cheryl Swoops revealed herself to be somebody who's resentful.

Now we don't know.

The specific the specificity of her resentment. We don't know whether it's towards k Caitlyn Clark directly, which she has categorically and emphatically noted.

We don't know whether it's against.

The system itself that hovers over the NBA where we see this this this this star who is destined to be a superstar, who happens to be White getting shine that nearly any w n B A player has never received. Now one can easily argue, Cheryl Swoop, you did have young. You are the first to have your own signature sneaker. You are a champion on every level. You will not just admire the respect that you've been revered. The only blemish on Cheryl Swoop's career is what she's been doing in reporting on Kaitlyn Clark this season. So hopefully she will listen to her former teammate Cynthia Cooper, and she will embrace it all and just embrace the fact that listen, a rising.

Tide lifts all boats.

Because right now I'm at a point right now, one of the reasons I made it purpose was I did it on purpose. I stopped talking about Cheryl Swoops last week is because I don't want her to lose her job. And I think at the rate that she was going, she was gonna lose her job covering the Dallas Wings. I'm telling you that right now, wamb ain't gonna let you mess with the golden goose, and Kitlyn Clark is the golden goose, whether y'all like or not.

Asian Wilson is the best player in the world. But Kaitlyn Clark is the golden Goose. She's the ratings grabber, She's box office, she's the one bringing eyeballs to the sport.

I promise you the WNBA ain't gonna let her get messed with. And if you are Cheryl Swoops and you want to continue to call games and report on games and do that for the w I suggest you change your attitude and listen to Cynthia Cooper cause if you don't, it's.

Gonna be a problem. Let's go to the next side. I'm on the list before I.

Get on out of here, because I want to thank everyone who voted for me as the most annoying person in football media. I won a bracket of sixty four and defeated my old buddy Skip Bayless and the finals about secure and fifty three percent of the vote.

First of all, y'all are all lions. You know you love me. You know you love me.

I love y'all too. Stop What can't we just admit the love? Can we just stop acting like the love ain't there?

Y'all know y'all got love for me. You know you do. Now, I know I know you sometimes well damn, I'm supposed to.

When you're debating, you take it aside, and if you disagree with me, it's gonna annoy you. Sometimes people are there that agree with me, people are there that disagree with me. That's the way it goes. Personally speaking. I don't know how I beat over Skip Bayless or Christopher mad Doug Russo for that battle.

I don't know how to hell that happen. I really really don't.

But nevertheless, I'll take it because ladies and gentlemen in this business, annoying or otherwise, it's not a bad thing to be hated. It's not a bad thing to be considered annoying. It's not a bad thing to be to be loved. The only bad thing is indifference when people are not paying attention to you at all.

And needless to say, that is not a problem I have love. Y'all appreciate the love, no doubt about that. Okay, thank you so much.

Speaking of love, before I get on out of here, I wanted to take an opportunity to pay homage to two legends I love. I wanted to honor two legends that we lost this week. R and B singer Soul singer, the one and only Frankie Beverly and the legend that reacted. James Earl Jones, Beverly, founding voice of the R and B band, made passed away earlier today. He was seventy seven years old. Mays is arguably one of the greatest tour bands of all time, meaning Frankie Beverly and Mays. Remember that one of the greatest tour bands of all time were multi platinum hits like Joy and Pain, Sunshine and Ray, Happy Feelings, That was Another beautiful one, Southern Girl, and Before I Let Go, Before I Let Go and All Tamer.

Obviously, James L.

Jones was an egot winner, one of the few artists to win an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award. His unmistakable baritone voice became as famous as his usually smiling face. He was the voice that invited TV viewers in with the line this is CNN for the cable News Network. He played the brave Lion Mufassa in Disney's animated film The Lion King, and was most famous.

Of course, as the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars films franchise. James Earl Jones was ninety three.

May he and the incomparable Frankie Beverly rest in peace, God bless