The continued greatness of Indiana Fever star rookie Caitlin Clark over the last month plus has caused a bizarre combination of both admiration and intense jealousy and WNBA circles. While some in the game understand that the Fever star is responsible for new privileges like chartered jets and increased ticket sales, other former WNBA players such as Sheryl Swoopes haven't attempted to hide their jealousy at the attention that Clark has received since entering the league, and have instead opted to try to downplay her accomplishments at every turn.

One person who has experience with the situation that Clark is going through is women's basketball legend Nancy Lieberman, who recently took to The Knuckleheads Podcast to share an experience where she experienced some jealousy targeted at her during her college days at Old Dominion.

“3 of my 4 years they scheduled us playing up in New York and going into the Garden my first time we were playing Queens College,” said Lieberman. “It’s so stupid right, like one of the girls on Queens College, she goes, ah she’s overrated and she doesn’t deserve all this attention. Kind of like what’s happening to Caitlin Clark. So we go in the Garden, we’re playing in front of about 13-14,000 people. I was so mad at this girl, I had like 33 points, 15 rebounds, 14 assists, and nine steals.”

Lieberman then added that the two made up after the game.

“So we go to the press conference and I said well you know I’m so happy we wont blah, blah, blah and I hope you guys didn’t think I was overrated, and the girl came into the press conference and apologized,” said Lieberman.

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A bizarre situation for Caitlin Clark

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) reacts as she walks off the floor during the second half of a basketball game against the Chicago Sky at Wintrust Arena.
Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

It would not appear that people like Sheryl Swoopes and other WNBA figures who have directed vitriol at Clark will be apologizing anytime soon. Even as Clark continues to establish herself as not only the best rookie in the game by a country mile, but also one of its upper echelon players overall, some former players and others in the media have attempted to frame it as a two-player race between Clark and former college rival Angel Reese of the Chicago Sky, who has had an impressive rookie season but is still clearly levels below Clark in terms of impact.

In any case, Clark and the Fever will next take the floor against the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday evening.