Sheryl Swoopes Details 'Problem' With Caitlin Clark's Reaction to Viral Eye Poke

While there have been several instances of extracurricular activity that Indiana Fever star guard Caitlin Clark has been at the center of during this 2025 WNBA season, the most recent came in the third quarter of her team's June 17 game against the Connecticut Sun, when she was poked in the eye by guard Jacy Sheldon.

This sparked a shoving match between Clark and Sheldon that escalated to where Marina Mabrey came in and shoved Clark to the ground. While all three of these players were given technical fouls for what occurred, many were left frustrated by how the game's referees handled the whole scenario.

However, WNBA icon Sheryl Swoopes expressed some frustration with how Clark handled the aftermath of this eye poke, which she conveyed during a June 24 episode of The Women's Hoops Show.

"Jacy Sheldon and Caitlin go all the way back to college... I'm not saying they like each other or not, because I don't know either one of them that way. But they're competitors, right?" Swoopes said. "So Jacy loves the challenge of, 'Let me guard Caitlin'... I don't think Jacy is a dirty player, I don't think she intentionally poked her in the eye. I thought she was guarding her, she swiped at the ball, and she hit Caitlin in the eye.

"Caitlin's reaction was, 'She just poked me in the eye. You gonna do nothing about that?' A very legit, legit reaction," Swoopes added.

"But the problem to me was, afterwards, then Caitlin pushed Jacy," Swoopes said, then alluding to how Clark not letting the referees handle the eye poke, and instead starting this physical exchange with Sheldon, played a part in the game ultimately getting out of hand.