The Team USA women’s basketball roster for the approaching 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris has been announced, and Caitlin Clark is not on it, sources told basketball insider Shams Charania and The Athletic.
The ex-Hawkeye and current rookie phenom of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, 12 games into her debut season and at a 3-9 record, is averaging 16.8 points per game, 5.3 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and 1.5 steals in 33.5 minutes per game.
That includes a 30-point performance on Friday, bouncing back from just three points scored in the preceding game five days earlier, on seven made threes in 13 attempts.
Still, the West Des Moines local is not one of the 12 players listed on the roster representing the U.S. in France in July, according to The Athletic. The roster will instead include:
- A’ja Wilson
- Breanna Stewart
- Diana Taurasi
- Brittney Griner
- Alyssa Thomas
- Napheesa Collier
- Jewell Loyd
- Kelsey Plum
- Jackie Young
- Sabrina Ionescu
- Chelsea Gray
- Kahleah Copper
But Clark, according to ESPN, told reporters on Sunday that she is not disappointed in being left off of the roster.
“I’m going to be rooting them on to win gold,” Clark said. “It just gives me something to work for. It’s a dream. Hopefully one day I can be there. I think it’s just a little more motivation. You remember that. Hopefully, when four years come back around, I can be there.”
Regardless of how Clark’s statistics and skillset stack up against the 12 rostered players, fans argue the draw and attention she has brought to Fever games — and the WNBA as a whole — would justify her addition to the roster. Fans argue doing so would only help expand women’s basketball’s platform across the globe.
Indeed, Clark and the Indiana Fever made history against the now-0-12 Washington Mystics on Friday, drawing over 20,000 fans to the contest to mark it the most-attended regular season WNBA game since 1999 and the most at any WNBA game since 2007, according to Bullets Forever.
Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever drew a sellout crowd of 20,333 fans for tonight’s game against the Washington Mystics — the WNBA’s most attended game in 17 years.
These teams have a combined record of 3-20 & it’s the first-ever $1 million-plus gate for the Mystics.
Crazy! pic.twitter.com/SEf12R06Sh
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) June 8, 2024
Still, Clark was not the only WNBA star so-called “snubbed” from the team, as fans are also questioning the omission of Dallas Wings point guard Arike Ogunbowale. Ogunbowale is a three-time WNBA All-Star and was the WNBA scoring champion in 2020.
The Olympic Games will run from July 26 to Aug. 11.