VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — Perhaps you’ve heard that Caitlin Clark, the early favorite for 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year, isn’t at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
To those in the women’s basketball community and anyone who follows the sport closely at both the collegiate and professional levels, Clark’s exclusion from the U.S. women’s basketball roster wasn’t surprising. But to casual fans — many of whom have started following women’s basketball because of Clark and her logo 3s — her omission was an outrage and made no sense.
In their quest for a record eighth consecutive gold medal, the Americans beat Japan 102-76 in their first pool play game Monday and take on Belgium Thursday. The U.S. shot 4-for-20 from 3 against Japan and did not sell out the 27,000 seat Pierre Mauroy Stadium, so the questions around Clark’s absence — and if she should have been put on the team — were again raised.
Clark herself is not the one driving this conversation. She said this week she “wasn’t necessarily bummed” about missing the Olympics.
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“I think the break’s definitely been good,” Clark said. “I think it gives you something to work for sure and something to dream of. Four years comes fast … you gotta start working now if you want that to be your dream. So I think that’s it for me, work hard and hopefully you can be there.”
The back-to-back national college player of the year the last two seasons, Clark is a tremendous talent who has a bright future ahead of her both in the WNBA and with USA Basketball. She is practically a lock for the 2028 team, and it’s fun to think about all the records she could break — and the crowds she will command — in LA.
But her accolades up to this point do not mean she should be on Team USA right now. Here are 10 reasons why.
1. Clark did not earn her spot
Through no fault of Clark’s own, her schedule did not line up well with Team USA’s training camp schedule. For years, USA Basketball has tried to align its Olympic training camps, which are essentially tryouts, with the Euroleague schedule since so many athletes play overseas in the winter. That means training camp takes place during Euroleague breaks.
This is not ideal for a college player’s schedule, particularly one who leads her team to back-to-back Final Fours. Clark never got a chance to play with this group, which has been together in one form or another for years.
2. Chemistry
As we saw from Clark’s first few weeks in the WNBA, it takes time to develop an on-court bond with teammates. Chemistry can’t be forced, especially overnight. Because international competitions are almost entirely based on age before the senior national team — think U-19, U-16 — Clark, 22, has never played with anyone on this roster. The Americans are heavily favored to win their eighth consecutive gold despite the disadvantage that they have barely played together this summer. Their first game wasn’t until July 21 at WNBA All-Star weekend, where they lost 117-109.
The core of this roster has been together for years — seven of the 12 players were on the Tokyo roster, and the four of the five newcomers play with other Team USA members during the WNBA season — and they still had issues with timing, defensive miscues and more in the All-Star loss.
3. Physicality
Much has been made about the physical play Clark has dealt with her rookie year, with numerous new-to-the-game fans complaining that players are dirty.
With the exception of Chennedy Carter’s hip check, which was correctly reclassified as a flagrant 1, Clark has been dealing with some good, old fashioned welcome-to-the-pros physicality. The W is a tough league full of grown women who train year round. The best teams in the league pride themselves on defense, unlike the Big Ten, which is an offense-forward conference.
Clark is a wiry 6-foot, 152 pounds, and she’s struggled at times with the physicality of professional basketball. FIBA is even more intense. In the USA’s first game against Japan, Kah Copper almost broke a rib going for a rebound, and Sabrina Ionescu got taken out by a screen. (Fortunately Copper just got the wind knocked out of her, but it leveled her for a few minutes and she sat on the bench for a long stretch.) Adjusting would be tough, and injury a concern.
