The Caitlin Clark show will not be going to Paris.
The uber-popular women’s basketball phenom, who has generated significant interest in the sport over the past year with her long 3-pointers and flashy passing, was not selected for USA Basketball’s women’s national team, according to reports.
Five-time gold medalist Diana Taurasi was invited.
So, too, was Phoenix Mercury teammate Brittney Griner, who was detained in a Russian prison for 10 months in 2022 and has said she will only play internationally with USA Basketball.
Olympic veterans such as the Liberty’s reigning WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, Jewell Loyd and Chelsea Gray, will also be on the team.
Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu, Alyssa Thomas and Kahleah Copper will be first-time Olympians who all played for the American team in the 2022 World Cup.
Clark’s absence, though, overshadows those who made the team.
“I don’t know how you leave the country without her,” four-time Olympic gold medalist Lisa Leslie told The Sporting News in April.
Team USA’s decision makers reportedly found a way, though the roster has yet to be officially announced.
Clark is coming off a fantastic performance, equaling a WNBA rookie record with seven 3-pointers Friday night for the Indiana Fever in front of the largest league crowd in 17 years — 20,333 in Washington.
The NCAA’s all-time leading scorer, Clark is averaging 16.8 points, 6.3 assists and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 32.7 percent from 3-point range for the rebuilding Fever.
One potential reason, floated by USA Today, is that Clark’s popularity may have worked against her. Two sources told the outlet that there was some concern about how fans would react to her seeing limited action on a loaded roster.
Rookies have been included on the U.S. Olympic teams in the past, most notably Christian Laettner on the men’s side playing for the 1992 Dream Team.
The 22-year-old Clark has become a national sensation.
Fans have lined up before and after games for her autograph.
She has become a topic of the hot-take circuit, her every move analyzed. Clearly, Clark would have created more notoriety for the U.S. women’s team, which last lost an Olympic game in 1992, no matter what she did on the court.
But the powers-that-be with USA Basketball opted against including her, a move that has created backlash on social media from several different avenues.
Barstool founder Dave Portnoy unloaded, calling it, “the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” Colin Cowherd compared Clark to Laettner.
“Christian Laettner made the Dream Team. Caitlin Clark can’t make the women’s Olympic basketball team?” wrote Cowherd, a Fox Sports host. “What mostly pays for the Olympics — oh wait — revenue generated from broadcasting partners. As in TV. As in Caitlin is TV GOLD. Opportunity wasted.”
Justin Termine of Sirius XM pointed out how silly it is for a sport that is trying to grow to not have someone as popular as Clark.
“Even if she stinks, which she doesn’t, that’s horrible vision,” he posted.
Alexei Lalas, the former U.S. soccer star, had a blunt take on the decision.
“I don’t know enough about USA women’s Olympic basketball to know if Caitlin Clark’s omission is a snub. I do know that, right now, she would be the only reason I would remotely care about USA women’s Olympic basketball,” he wrote.
Former NBC Sports reporter Michelle Tafoya called it a “lost opportunity,” writing that it was a chance to not only grow the sport, but create interest.
She went as far as to call the decision “detrimental” to the sport.
