Most would agree that Caitlin Clark was deserving of a spot on the U.S. women’s basketball Olympic team this summer, and one of the people who helped assemble the roster has shed some new light on the controversial decision.
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley won a gold medal as the coach of Team USA at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She was also on the selection committee for this year’s team in Paris. During an interview with NBC’s Mike Tirico on Sunday, Staley was asked about Clark being left off the roster.
Staley indicated that things might have been different if the decision were made now.
“As a committee member, you’re charged with putting together best team of players, the best talent. Caitlin is just a rookie in the WNBA. She wasn’t playing bad, but wasn’t playing like she’s playing now,”Staley said. “If we had to do it all over again, the way that she’s playing, she would be in really high consideration for making the team because she is playing head and shoulders above a lot of people, shooting the ball extremely well. She is an elite passer. She’s just got a great basketball IQ and she’s a little more seasoned in the pro game in a couple of months than she was two months ago.”
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
It was revealed on June 9 that Clark did not make the Team USA roster. She had played just 12 WNBA games in her career to that point. The former Iowa star had 20 or more points in half of those contests. Clark’s play has been a lot more consistent over the last two months, but she has 20-plus points in four of 14 games since word got out that she would not be headed to Paris.
The perception of Clark as a player should not have changed that dramatically over the past two months. Staley’s reason for why Clark did not make Team USA is only slightly better than the previous absurd one that was given.
