Caitlin Clark Officially Left Off USA Olympic Team Right After Drawing The Biggest WNBA Game Crowd In 17 Years

Matt Fitzgerald·
CULTURESPORTS
·
Caitlin Clark
@WNBA

The perpetual pettiness toward Caitlin Clark in women’s basketball seems to have no end in sight.

Fresh off her best WNBA game yet in front of a sold-out crowd of over 20,000 — her opponent literally had to change arenas to accommodate ticket demand — Clark found out she wouldn’t be playing for Team USA at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Shams let the people know who’ll be representing the U.S. after rumors kicked around regarding Clark’s omission at about midnight.

Rather than giving an extension of my own opinion from the outset, how about a woman who’s been on-site for many American gold medal triumphs at the Summer Games? USA Today‘s Christine Brennan, who initially reported on Clark’s snub, had quite a lot to say about the Indiana Fever rookie sensation not being on the Olympic team.

Interesting that neither Angel Reese nor Chennedy Carter made the cut. What a shame. Because especially if Reese was on the squad, I’m sure millions upon millions more would tune in, right? Hopefully you can detect my facetiousness through this screen.

The U.S. women have won every Olympic gold medal in basketball save for one since 1984, so I don’t get why they have to send their absolute “best” team over. And even then, I’m not sure they are. Diana Taurasi was hating on Clark before she even touched a WNBA court. She’s 41 years old, shooting worse than Clark from the field with a fraction of the playmaking ability, already has five gold medals, and she makes the cut?

Fear over how much playing time Clark would get makes me laugh. Even if she was a super sub who got, like, the seventh-most minutes on the team, that’d be plenty. If that was too much of a competitive compromise — damn, we only beat International Team X by 20 instead of 30! — then I don’t know what world these Olympic decision-makers are living in.

Clark doesn’t move the needle in women’s basketball. She IS the needle. The Olympic stage seems like a good time to capitalize on that, as Clark’s popularity continues to soar.

Not that there aren’t a lot of great players to root for on Team USA. It’s just…who’s doing this?

And for those who suggest that Clark will never hack it in the WNBA, despite being rushed into the professional ranks and onto the worst team, she’s making literal history.

Does Clark still need to cut down on her turnovers? Absolutely. Should that come with more competitive reps and an improved supporting cast? I certainly think so. Would she have looked miles better on a loaded Team USA roster who has a laughable talent advantage on the rest of the ladies hoops Olympic pool? You betcha.

Alas, based on Christine Brennan’s wealth of boots-on-the-ground experience, it looks like another American gold will receive very little fanfare. Maybe that doesn’t feel “fair” to the other players. Sorry but totally not sorry that Caitlin Clark draws eyeballs like no one else can — and excluding her from the Olympics only further alienates the casual audience, who are already feeling a type of way toward many prominent, jealous, anti-Clark WNBA players.

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