Caitlin Clark is starting to find a groove in the WNBA and Indiana Fever head coach Christie Sides is finally putting her in a position for success. Despite the trend in the right direction, the superstar rookie will not play for Team USA at the Olympics in Paris this summer.
Per multiple reports, Clark was left off of the roster!
Timing of the decision could not be worse in terms of optics. Not only is the No. 1 overall pick drawing massive crowds to her games, she seems to be coming into her own.
A win over the worst team in the league on Friday night might have been the spark that was needed for everything to finally click for Clark after a somewhat slow (but still historic!) start out of the gates. And the largest WNBA crowd in 17 years was there to witness the Fever beat the winless Mystics in D.C.
20,333 fans showed up to watch Clark and they got their money’s worth!
She scored 30 points with eight rebounds and six assists while setting a new franchise record and tying the league record for most three-pointers made by a rookie in a single game. Her seven triples was a huge sign that Indiana’s offense is starting to work through the greatest scorer in college basketball history. As it should!
Where Sides was hesitant to call plays for Clark in the early going, she drew up multiple plays that were specifically designed for her to get the ball on Friday. Washington’s defense was completely lost all night.
If the Fever can continue this flow, they are going to quickly discover that moving through Clark is going to bring a lot of success. Sides needs to keep using similar game plans.
Caitlin Clark won’t travel to Paris.
Barring a last-minute change, the U.S. Women’s National Team selection committee has decided to keep Clark off of the roster for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Perhaps it had something to do with United States head coach Cheryl Reeve’s bias against the rookie and dislike toward all of the hype that she receives as a first-year player.
The four-time WNBA champion coach made things rather awkward in May!
Either way, longtime women’s basketball reporter Christine Brennan (who does not come without haters of her own) has thoughts. She thinks it is a mistake.
The USWNT will look to defend its gold medal without the most popular women’s basketball player in the world. Clark drew the largest WNBA crowd in nearly two decades on Friday night— on the road.
Nobody will be able to watch her in Paris because she, by all accounts, won’t be there.
Beyond popularity, a large part most of Clark’s value to any roster is as a shooter. However, the scoring has not been there on a consistent enough basis during the beginning of her professional career.
It finally showed up in the most prominent way so far during the win over the Mystics.
Whether the decision to leave Caitlin Clark off of the Olympic roster was the right one or not, the timing couldn’t be worse. Crowds are massive. Sides calling plays for Clark and they are working.
To announce the snub now, in this current moment, is unfortunate timing.