Joseph Zucker @@JosephZucker Featured Columnist IV July 28, 2024
Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images
Dawn Staley, a member of the Team USA women’s basketball team committee, believes Caitlin Clark’s case for inclusion in the 2024 Summer Olympics would look different if the team were picked now.
“As a committee member, you’re charged with putting together the best team of players, the best talent,” Staley told NBC Sports’ Mike Tirico on Sunday. “Caitlin is just a rookie in the WNBA, wasn’t playing bad, but she wasn’t playing like she’s playing now.
“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. Shooting the ball extremely well, she is an elite passer, she has just got a great basketball IQ, and she’s a little more seasoned in the pro game than she was two months ago.”
The United States finalized its 12-player Olympic squad on June 11.
At the time, Clark was averaging 16.3 points on 37.3 percent shooting along with 4.9 rebounds and 6.0 assists. Her production didn’t make her a lock for Paris, and she had missed a critical training camp period in April while suiting up for Iowa in the Final Four.
Omitting Indiana Fever star wasn’t a universally popular pick but one that had reasonable explanations.
To Staley’s point, Clark’s candidacy looks stronger if Team USA had had the entire first half of the WNBA season from which to grade her.
In 13 games after the Olympic cutoff, she has averaged 17.9 points and 10.4 assists. Her final appearance before the All-Star/Olympic break saw her set a single-game record for assists (19).
One could argue USA Basketball should’ve picked Clark with the idea that her performance would naturally improve as she found her comfort zone on the court closer to the Summer Games.
But the committee could only work with the body of evidence it had at the time.
Clark wasn’t off to a blistering start and lacked any experience with the senior national team. That latter aspect was critical.
Las Vegas Aces Chelsea Gray was recovering from a foot injury when she was added to Team USA, but she’s at least a six-time WNBA All-Star who competed in the last Summer Olympics and was on the 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup team.
The Phoenix Mercury’s Diana Taurasi likewise has a wealth of international experience in the bank to balance out the fact she’s no longer an elite talent.
For Clark, this is probably the first and last time she’ll be on the Olympic bubble, but that doesn’t offer much comfort when she’s watching the Paris Games from afar.
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