Caitlin Clark has never been to Paris but she would love to go to this summer’s Olympic Games as a member of Team USA. Unfortunately, the United States’ head coach may not be on board with the idea.
Fortunately, the final roster decision is not up to her!
Cheryl Reeve is the head coach of the Minnesota Lynx. She will serve in the same head coaching role for the 2024 USA Basketball Women’s National Team, alongside Mike Thibault, Kara Lawson and Joni Taylor.
The coaching staff, which led the U.S. to a gold medal at the 2022 FIBA Women’s World Cup, was selected by the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Committee. The committee will also pick which players make the team in coming weeks.
A final decision must be made by June 1, which means that the first few games of Clark’s rookie season in the WNBA will serve as a tryout for the national team.
As the greatest scorer in college basketball history, and perhaps the biggest name in women’s basketball history, there was a lot of hype surrounding her debut. Clark played her first preseason game over the weekend and did not skip a beat.
The WNBA made the game available nationally on the league’s app, which was a smart move.
Cheryl Reeve is upset with the Caitlin Clark hype.
Her team also made its preseason debut against Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky on Friday. Its game was only available to people who bought a ticket and showed up. Thousands of fans watched a live stream from a fan on social media.
Reeve was not happy with the lack of coverage. She made that abundantly clear on X and took a shot at the extensive coverage and promotion of Clark while doing so.
Someone responded back to ask if there was a reason why Minnesota’s game wasn’t going to air. And then this happened:
AWKWARD!
Regardless of whether Reeve’s stance is fair or not, it is a rather silly thing to say. Nobody in recent history — or maybe ever — has drawn as much interest to the WNBA as Clark. Obviously the league is going to continue to push its biggest star, especially at the start of her first year. (You hear that, Diana Taurasi?!)
Secondly, it feels rather unprofessional for a head coach to be taking jabs like that. Oh well. That isn’t the tip of the iceberg.
Reeve is the USWNT coach and may end up with Clark on her roster. The dynamics immediately shifted between them as soon as she hit post on “That part,” regardless of whether they admit it or not. That’s not cool.
It certainly seems like, if it were up to Reeve, Clark would not be on the team. But it’s not up to Reeve!
The National Team Committee will make that decision. However, Reeve doesn’t have to play her…
That would be a bummer.