USA hoops got it right on Caitlin Clark

The USA Olympic selection committee created a media frenzy when they decided to leave Caitlin Clark off the national team for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

The move to keep one of the biggest star athletes on the planet back at home has been heavily criticized across sports media.

“This is about what I will personally label the idiocy of Team USA women’s basketball. How dare you make this decision. It’s stupid,” said Stephen A. Smith during a rant on his ESPN show First Take.

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark is seen here in a game against the Los Angeles Sparks early in the 2024 WNBA season. Photo credit: Carlos Jones/News4usonline

The WNBA has seen a substantial increase in viewership and attendance during Clark’s rookie season, and nothing shows the rise in popularity more clearly than the 2024 All-Star voting results. A’ja Wilson led all players last year with 95,860 votes. This year, Clark led the way with 700,735 votes.

While Clark would have helped attract more eyes, it was the right decision not to include her this time around.

“I think it just gives me something to work for. It’s a dream, so hopefully, one day, I can be there. I think it’s just a little more motivation; you remember that, and hopefully, when four years come back around, I can be there,” said Clark.

The simple and best reason Clark will have to wait to be a member of the Olympic team is that she is not better than any of the players who made the roster. All 12 women that will represent the United States are far more established and developed at this point in their careers.

Clark is an All-Star caliber WNBA player but is not all-world at this point. Just because she is more popular than the other names on the team does not mean she is more deserving.

“Why are you taking away these player’s experiences? They might not be able to experience the Olympics again. (Clark) is gonna be on the next Olympic team,” said Sparks’ guard Lexie Brown. “Who are you all taking off the list?”

The WNBA is relying on the popularity of Clark and her draft classmate Angel Reese to continue to build the league’s brand, but the Olympics is not the WNBA, and a lot is already being asked of the two. The Olympics is a big enough event that sells itself, and there is no better time to heighten the stock of other players not named Clark or Reese.

If Clark were on the team, it would become all about her instead of how dominant the US women’s basketball team is.

The WNBA All-Star game has a direct effect on the league, and it will now be that much more interesting with Clark being left off the national team. Clark and Reese will team up for the first time and have the opportunity to try to beat the players who will be representing the country.

The two playing together would already have been a monumental moment, and with them facing the Olympians, the game now has a chance to be the most competitive and entertaining All-Star game in all of sports.

The name that has been thrown around as to who Clark could have potentially replaced on the roster is Diana Taurasi. Often referred to as the GOAT, her production has declined in recent years, and at 42 years old, she is not the player she once was.

It is silly to think Taurasi should not be on the team, and it comes off as a desperate play to include Clark. Taurasi is a five-time gold medalist and the captain of the team. She has more experience than anyone making the trip to Paris, and an argument could be made her presence in the locker room makes her the team’s most valuable player.

“I’d venture to say that in every single camp I’ve been to, the best player is always DT. She leads, she makes everyone around her better, and she makes it fun but competitive, and she can try to get the other great players off their game by talking trash,” said USA basketball assistant and Sparks’ head coach Curt Miller.

Taurasi is fourth all-time in Olympic scoring and second all-time on the FIBA basketball scoring list. Leaving a player of her status off the team would be like leaving LeBron James off the men’s team due to his older age. No one would argue James should not make the roster because they know the value of his leadership, and when the most accomplished player sets the example, everyone else follows.

“It’s the things that she’s willing to do when other people aren’t around; just day after day, her commitment to her craft is second to none,” said Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts of Taurasi. “The shooting pre and post-practice, the 10,000-hour rule, just doing things over and over that is going to help perfect your craft.”

Even Caitlin Clark would probably agree that Diana Taurasi should make the squad ahead of her, and she simply is not at the level yet to take any of the other players’ spots. The Olympics is still about winning medals above all else, and the rest of the world is considerably better than when the games were last held in 2021.

This will only motivate Clark to keep improving her game. Her coach, Christie Sides, claims, “They woke a monster,” and we have already seen Clark elevate her game since the announcement. Just recently, she became the first rookie in league history to record a triple-double.

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