Caitlin Clark is not going to be part of the Workforce USA squad that goes for a report Eighth-straight gold medal on the Summer time Olympics in Paris, and basketball followers are puzzled by the transfer!
Based on a number of studies, 22-year-old Clark, essentially the most well-known feminine hooper on the planet, was not named to the 12-player squad … which is able to signify America in France subsequent month.
An official announcement has not but been made, however the crew is made up of a mixture of veterans and first-time Olympians. However, no Clark.
The choice comes amid a wave of controversy surrounding Caitlin’s remedy by different WNBA gamers.
She’s been crushed up on the courtroom — generally exterior the scope of the basketball recreation (see the Chennedy Carter physique examine from final weekend’s Fever-Sky conflict). Supporters have attributed the unhealthy remedy to all the things from jealousy to racism.
Others have claimed the WNBA is just a more durable league … and Clark, who continues to be averaging practically 17 factors per recreation (thirteenth within the league), should alter to the bodily play. Principally, nothing to see right here.
It appears the choice to maintain CC off the Olympic crew could have one thing to do along with her reputation, as loopy as that sounds. USA Right this moment spoke with two sources who instructed the outlet there was concern about how Clark’s tens of millions of followers would react to what would doubtless be restricted enjoying time for the primary total decide.
Rant incoming. – leaving Caitlin Clark off the ladies’s Olympic crew is the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard pic.twitter.com/RXg0XwFwtN
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) June 8, 2024
@stoolpresidente
Predictably, a lot of these tens of millions of followers are upset over the perceived snub … together with Dave Portnoy, who known as it the “dumbest s***” he is heard for opting to go away arguably the preferred participant alive off of the crew.
And, the Barstool founder is not alone … it is left many individuals scratching their heads, together with U.S. soccer legend Alexi Lalas, who additionally could not perceive the choice.
“I don’t know sufficient about USA girls’s Olympic basketball to know if Caitlin Clark’s omission is a snub. I do know that, proper now, she can be the one purpose I might remotely care about USA girls’s Olympic basketball,” Lalas wrote on X.
Clark, who scored 30 factors final evening in entrance of a jam-packed crowd that resembled an NBA recreation, has not but commented on the Olympic crew.
As for who did make the squad … A’Ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, and Brittney Griner are just a few of the celebrities named to be on the 2024 Girls’s Olympic crew.