According to a report, Team USA decided to exclude Caitlin Clark from the 2024 Olympic roster due to concerns that fans would be outraged over the minimal playing time she would have received on the veteran-heavy team.
Christine Brennan of USA Today Sports cites two “impeccable” sources who claim the rookie phenom’s omission had more to do with social media outcry than basketball.
The internet was full of reactions to Clark being left off the team.
Rant incoming. – leaving Caitlin Clark off the women’s Olympic team is the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard pic.twitter.com/RXg0XwFwtN
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) June 8, 2024
The report from Brennan makes sense. Diana Taurasi, Breanna Stewart, and Sabrina Ionescu are all at least at Clark’s level, if not better. Had the team accepted Clark, she would have seen very little playing time. And, yes, the response to her limited playing time would have been extremely negative and probably distracted the team.
In other words, Clark is good enough to be on the team but wouldn’t have helped the team enough to offset the drama that would have come with her.
However, Team USA’s reported reasoning for excluding Clark is unlikely to make her fans feel better.
