Caitlin Clark won’t be part of the Group 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 experiences, 22-year-old Clark, essentially the most well-known feminine hooper on the planet, was not named to the 12-player squad … which can symbolize 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 court docket — typically exterior the scope of the basketball sport (see the Chennedy Carter physique verify from final weekend’s Fever-Sky conflict). Supporters have attributed the dangerous remedy to all the things from jealousy to racism.
Others have claimed the WNBA is solely a harder league … and Clark, who remains to be averaging practically 17 factors per sport (thirteenth within the league), should modify 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 advised the outlet there was concern about how Clark’s hundreds of thousands of followers would react to what would seemingly be restricted enjoying time for the primary general choose.
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 hundreds of thousands of followers are upset over the perceived snub … together with Dave Portnoy, who referred to 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 ladies’s Olympic basketball to know if Caitlin Clark’s omission is a snub. I do know that, proper now, she could be the one purpose I might remotely care about USA ladies’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 sport, 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.
