The team will have WNBA stars like Brittney Griner from the Phoenix Mercury, A’ja Wilson from the Las Vegas Aces, and Breanna Stewart from the New York Liberty.
Source: Caitlin Clark Not on Team USA Roster for Paris Olympics
Caitlin Clark, who’s been amazing in her first year in the WNBA and scored more points in college basketball than anyone ever, won’t be going to the Olympics in Paris with the U.S. team, according to someone who knows about the decision.
The official list of players for Team USA hasn’t been announced yet, but the team going to the international competition will have 12 experienced players, according to the source.
The team will have WNBA players like Brittney Griner from the Phoenix Mercury, A’ja Wilson from the Las Vegas Aces, and Breanna Stewart from the New York Liberty.
“We haven’t told everyone yet,” a spokesperson for Team USA said.
The Athletic was the first to report that Clark wouldn’t be there.
Clark had an awesome game in her early pro career. She scored 30 points and made seven 3-pointers when the Indiana Fever beat the Washington Mystics 85-83 last Friday.
She got named the WNBA’s best rookie for May, even though her start in the league hasn’t been totally easy.
She doesn’t always shoot well from far away, only making 32.7% of her 3-point shots. That’s just a bit better than the league average, which is 32.6%.
She’s been making more than five mistakes per game, giving away the ball a total of 67 times, which is the highest in the league.
Not being chosen for the Team USA roster, which is aiming for an eighth gold medal in a row for America, can make sense if you just look at how someone performs on the court.
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By not taking Clark with them, USA Basketball is missing out on a chance to make the competition even more exciting.
Just by being in the WNBA, she’s made it super popular. Now, everyone wants to watch!
More big arenas are being used when Indiana plays because lots of new fans want to go to WNBA games and spend money.
This season, teams are even using private planes, which is something players have wanted for a long time. It’s a great perk, especially now when women’s soccer is growing so fast.
Clark was chosen as the top pick in the WNBA draft in April. Before that, she played basketball for four years at the University of Iowa, where she scored a record-breaking 3,951 points.
The player who won the national award twice helped the Hawkeyes reach the final of the NCAA tournament two times in a row.
Newcomers have been part of previous Olympic teams.
In 2016, the team that went to Rio included Stewart. She had just started playing for the Seattle Storm after finishing her successful college career at the University of Connecticut.
The team that went to Beijing in 2008 had two new WNBA players: Candace Parker and Sylvia Fowles, who were just starting out in their careers.
Many fans of Clark will be sad because she isn’t on the Olympic team. But there are also other great WNBA players who didn’t make it.
According to weeklywakeup News, the team is likely to include players like Wilson, Stewart, Griner, Taurasi, Thomas, Collier, Loyd, Plum, Young, Ionescu, Gray, and Copper.
The group didn’t pick Arike Ogunbowale, who plays for the Dallas Wings. She’s from Milwaukee and scores a lot, averaging 26.6 points per game, which is second best in the league.
Dearica Hamby, who plays forward for the Los Angeles Sparks and is from Georgia, didn’t make it onto Team USA, even though she’s the fifth highest scorer in the WNBA, averaging 20.6 points per game.
If Clark doesn’t go to Paris, she might have another chance at the Olympics in 2028 when she’s 26 years old. The Olympics could be in Los Angeles that year.
Team USA’s first Olympic game is on July 29 against Japan. It starts at 3 p.m. EDT in Lille.
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