Was Not Giving Caitlin Clark a Spot on the Women’s Olympic Team a Mistake?

This past week the Olympic Committee made decisions on the U.S. Women’s Basketball Olympic team for this upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris. However, this past draft’s number one overall pick, Caitlin Clark, was not selected to be part of the team. Although she is only a rookie in the WNBA, she will undoubtedly be the face of the WNBA soon, if she isn’t already. Since she wasn’t picked for the Olympic team, this has caused some to be outraged and this decision may be costly for the other players on the team.

First of all, Caitlin Clark is currently probably not a top 12 player in the league. Therefore not giving her a spot for that reason could be a valid one, but there are several counter-arguments that would warrant giving her a spot on the team. She is a great shooter and could easily provide a boost in that way to the team even if she was only on the court for a few minutes a game. Additionally, despite the WNBA frontloading her schedule with tough teams, she has averaged 17 points a game, five rebounds, and six assists per game which is great. However, her inefficient shooting and turnover-prone nature do leave lots of room for growth. With that said, the U.S. Women’s Olympic Basketball team hasn’t lost a game in the Olympics since 1992, so would giving a roster spot to Caitlyn Clark over a more talented player really hurt the team’s chances of winning the Gold Medal in Paris? No, it would not. So how does leaving her off the team hurt the other players on the Olympic team?

Firstly, the marketability of this team drops dramatically. Clark has already signed mega deals with Nike, Gatorade, and State Farm which has her featured in several national commercials. If Caitlin Clark had been selected to be part of the team, a company would have likely created a commercial featuring Clark and her other Olympic teammates ahead of the Olympics which would have given some of her teammates more endorsement money. Additionally, the games played in the Olympics would have had massive ratings if Clark had been on the team. This would have also been an amazing chance for the United States national audience to watch other great players who play in the WNBA besides Caitlin Clark.

The U.S. Women’s Olympic Basketball team will very likely win the gold medal in Paris this summer, but there was still a missed opportunity to have a larger audience interested in this team. Make no mistake, Caitlin Clark still has a lot to improve about her game but adding her to the team would not have decreased the chances of the United States winning the gold medal again. Despite the mistake of not adding Clark to this team, she should still easily make the roster four years from now when her game is more refined.