In the swirling maelstrom of U.S. women’s basketball chatter leading up to the 2024 Paris Olympics, one name keeps popping up like a bad penny—Caitlin Clark. Yes, the Indiana Fever rookie guard who, despite being basketball’s latest darling, was conspicuously left off the Team USA roster when it was announced on June 11. This caused an uproar akin to someone suggesting pineapple on pizza.
Now, if you’ve been living under a rock or simply don’t follow women’s basketball (shame on you), Caitlin Clark is kind of a big deal. The 22-year-old phenom out of Iowa, where she broke records like a bull in a china shop, was the No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. With her mesmerizing mix of Steph Curry’s range and Pete Maravich’s flair, Clark has been nothing short of a national sensation.
Despite her star power and knack for filling stadiums, Clark wasn’t picked for the elite 12-woman squad bound for Paris. Shocking? To some, yes. Justifiable? Well, according to Dawn Staley, coach of South Carolina’s women’s basketball team and a member of the Team USA selection committee, the decision wasn’t as clear-cut as it seems.
Appearing on NBC’s Sunday Olympics coverage, Staley admitted Clark would have been under “really high consideration” if the team were chosen today. “Caitlin is just a rookie in the WNBA and wasn’t playing bad, but wasn’t playing like she’s playing now,” Staley told NBC’s Mike Tirico, likely while crossing her fingers behind her back. “If we had to do it all over again, with the way she’s playing, she would be in really high consideration of making the team because she’s playing head and shoulders above a lot of people. She’s shooting the ball extremely well. She’s an elite passer. She’s just got a great basketball IQ. And she’s a little more seasoned in the pro game than she was two months ago.”
Translation: Oops, we might have dropped the ball on that one.
Clark, for her part, has been gracious, even saint-like, in her response to the snub. “I’m excited for the girls that are on the team,” she said to reporters, likely through gritted teeth. “I know it’s the most competitive team in the world and I know it could have gone either way—me being on the team or me not being on the team. I’m going to be rooting them on to win gold.”
Ah, the diplomatic humility of a true athlete, or maybe just the biting sarcasm of someone who knows she should’ve made the cut. Either way, her exclusion from the roster has left fans and analysts scratching their heads and pounding their desks.
Despite the initial struggles—averaging 16.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game, but also leading the league in turnovers with 5.6 per game—Clark’s recent performance has been stellar. She’s currently leading all WNBA players in assists per game (8.2) and dazzled at the WNBA All-Star Game with a game-high 10 assists, even as she helped the All-Stars trump Team USA.
Yet, even with her Cinderella story and undeniable talent, Clark’s Olympic dreams have been put on ice. Whether it’s her lack of professional experience or just an unfortunate timing issue, she remains the most talked-about player not wearing red, white, and blue in Paris. Maybe it’s a sign of the times, or maybe the selection committee just needs a pair of glasses.
So, as Team USA sets its sights on an eighth-consecutive gold medal, the rest of us will have to be content with watching Caitlin Clark dominate the WNBA, knowing full well that she’ll be back with a vengeance when the next Olympic cycle rolls around. And if Dawn Staley’s comments are any indication, you can bet she’ll be on that plane to the 2028 Olympics, probably with a smirk on her face and a point to prove.
