Will Caitlin Clark make the United States Olympic basketball team?
Will Caitlin Clark break the NCAA scoring record? Will she declare for the WNBA Draft? Will she lead the Iowa Hawkeyes back to the Final Four? Since last fall, Clark has faced a slew of serious questions.
And the response was “yes” to everyone of them. But another issue remains concerning the Indiana Fever guard, who was selected first in the WNBA draft: Will she make the 2024 U.S. Olympic team?
As the WNBA season approaches, we look at the process and how USA Basketball history may provide insight into Clark’s chances of making the team.
What are the basics?
Twelve teams will compete in the Olympic 5-on-5 women’s tournament: the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Serbia and Spain. The roster size for each is 12. The Americans are going for their eighth consecutive gold medal and 10th gold overall in the Olympics, which began women’s basketball competition in 1976.
Starting in 2021, 3×3 basketball also became an Olympic sport, but Clark isn’t in team pool. She is in the pool for 5-on-5. However, she couldn’t participate in the Americans’ last training camp, which was held at the same time as the Final Four in Cleveland, where Clark and Iowa were competing. There won’t be another camp before the U.S. team is chosen.
USA Basketball hasn’t set a specific date to announce the team members, other than to say it won’t be before June 1. The 2021 team was named on June 21, a little more than month before the United States’ first Olympic game in Japan on July 27.
Because Clark wasn’t at the April camp or any previous camp for the senior national team — she has played on USA Basketball junior teams — she has to make her case with her WNBA play. The Fever open the season Tuesday at Connecticut.
Who picks the U.S. team members?
Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve, who has extensive USA Basketball experience, coaches the U.S. women’s national team. She will provide feedback on the team makeup but doesn’t select the players. That’s done by a committee chaired by Connecticut Sun team president Jennifer Rizzotti, a former UConn and WNBA player who also coached for many years.
Joining Rizzotti on the committee are: South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, the previous U.S. Olympic coach who also played in three Olympics; Dan Padover, Atlanta Dream general manager; Bethany Donaphin, WNBA head of league operations; Seimone Augustus and Delisha Milton-Jones, both retired WNBA champions and Olympians.
Have there been controversial roster decisions for the U.S. women?
In the women’s game, the Olympics are a huge deal, and virtually every top American player vies to be on the team. The selection committee’s size and makeup have varied over the years. But can the members fully divorce themselves from possible allegiances to any former or current players/teammates?
The hope is that they are as objective as possible, and that the group balances out favoritisms/grudges. But controversial omissions still happen. Just ask Nneka Ogwumike, who came up on the short end in three Olympic cycles.
The 2012 No. 1 draft pick, and 2016 MVP and league champion, Ogwumike played extensively for USA Basketball (including in the FIBA World Cup) but was left off the Olympic team in 2012, 2016 and 2021. Of the snubs in USA Basketball history on the women’s side — there have been some big ones — what happened to Ogwumike was the worst.
Will the selection be controversial this year? Clark’s overwhelming popularity also has made her unpopular with some fans, which usually happens in sports when a young athlete in particular receives a lot of attention. The committee can’t make everyone happy, and it has a lot to consider.
If Clark plays well to start her WNBA career, can USA Basketball really not include a player who has been one of the biggest headliners in all of sports in 2024 and could benefit from learning more about the international game at age 22? Or will the committee strongly favor previous Olympic experience?
How difficult will it be for Clark to make the U.S. team?
Really tough. Let’s look at the guards, the group Clark is trying to crack.
The Phoenix Mercury’s Diana Taurasi, who is attempting to make her sixth Olympic team, is entering her 20th WNBA season and turns 42 in June. She has battled injuries in recent years, playing 26 of 40 Mercury games last season.
Taurasi’s two decades of national team experience can benefit a U.S. group that doesn’t have much preparation time. But the Americans won the 2022 FIBA World Cup without Taurasi or Sue Bird, a five-time Olympian who retired that year. Still, Taurasi seems a strong bet to make the Olympics again.
Other guards who already have won Olympic gold — either in 5-on-5 or 3×3 — are the Las Vegas Aces’ Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum; the Seattle Storm’s Jewell Loyd, the Washington Mystics’ Ariel Atkins and the Atlanta Dream’s Allisha Gray.
The New York Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, and Phoenix’s Kahleah Copper, were on the 2022 FIBA World Cup gold medal team. Laney-Hamilton and Copper are guard-forwards who can play the 3 position, as could Atlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard and the Aces’ Young.
Clark spent most of her time at point guard at Iowa and also can play shooting guard. But to make this Olympics, she will have to be picked over players who have more time in the pro game than she does.
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