Dawn Staley has seen the star power of Caitlin Clark firsthand as the head coach of South Carolina’s powerhouse women’s basketball program. Even when the Gamecocks knocked off Clark’s Iowa squad in the national championship game, Staley thanked her for “lifting up our sport.”
Staley is a three-time gold medalist as a player and a former Team USA head coach who led the Americans to gold at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She’s part of the selection committee who decides the Olympic roster. Given her public praise of Clark and rivalry with her at the collegiate level, it’s surprising that Staley didn’t talk more sense into her compatriots to make Clark part of the American team.
The Olympic roster was initially reported by Shams on June 8, right after Clark drew the biggest WNBA crowd in 17 years and put up a stat line of 30 points, eight boards and six assists. I can’t quite track down her exact stats since the snub, but this is the closest data I got:
On June 11, Caitlin Clark was officially left off of the Team USA Olympic roster.
Caitlin's numbers since that snub:
-17.4 ppg
-10 assists/game
-7 rebounds/game
-1 triple-double
-7 double-doubles (5 straight)
-47.2 FG%
-The Fever are 7-4This may indeed have lit a fire. pic.twitter.com/Ai3oGwY1wS
— Owen Siebring (@owensiebring) July 14, 2024
Mind you, this was before her final WNBA game, pre-Olympic hiatus, when Clark dished out nineteen assists, scored 24 points and played all 40 minutes in a loss to the Dallas Wings.
Staley has now admitted that, with hindsight being 20/20, Clark would be “in really high consideration” for an Olympic spot.
Dawn Staley, a member of the USWNT selection committee, asked about Caitlin Clark.
“If we had to do it all over again, the way that she’s playing, she would be in really high consideration of making the team because she is playing head and shoulders above a lot of people.” pic.twitter.com/hMYqTsPWzc
— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) July 28, 2024
The box office draw of Caitlin Clark alone should’ve merited a Summer Olympics trip to Paris for her. Never mind that she’s actually incredible at basketball. Leaving her out was always a stupid decision, and she was plenty good enough before her post-snub eruption to merit a spot at least as a role player.
Here’s my thing: What was the downside of projecting Clark’s inevitable ascent in the WNBA, and being wrong? I haven’t heard anything about Team USA women’s basketball at the Olympics so far. Dare I say very few casual fans care at all? I do. I double-dog dare say it, triple-stamp, no erasies. Very few casual fans care at all.
What a comment this is. Said and wrote it more than a month ago and will say it again from here in Paris: USA Basketball’s snub of Caitlin Clark was the worst player selection decision I’ve seen in my 40 years covering the Olympics. What a mistake! https://t.co/CrarbsJfOD
— Christine Brennan (@cbrennansports) July 28, 2024
I’ve seen the men’s Team USA squad play and even struggle, but I’m still tuning in. The extra-terrestrial singularity of Victor Wembanyama makes France worth watching, too. Who the f**k moves the needle for the ladies on Team USA? This is why it was always stupid for pundits to race-bait or imply any other ulterior motive about all the attention Clark gets.
Oh well. Zero point zero percent chance Clark gets left out of Los Angeles’ Summer Olympics in 2028. Can you imagine? She might be the all-time WNBA assists leader by then. Not even joking.
Caitlin Clark already has more career assists than 75.4% of all players in WNBA history. pic.twitter.com/hntXSGOHGG
— StatMamba (@StatMamba) July 27, 2024
