Troy Renck: It feels like the WNBA and USA Basketball will only be happy if they are in the C boarding group on Southwest Airlines, playing before half-empty arenas filled with ride-or-die fans telling the rest of us how we don’t get it. This issue resurfaced over the weekend when Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark was not selected for the American team for the Paris Olympics. An easy argument can be made that she is not one of the top 12 players. But when has Team USA made basketball-only decisions? Coaching politics and marketing influences have long shaped the final rosters. This is a missed opportunity for American women’s basketball to globalize the sport by including Clark — her USA jersey would have been the most popular in women’s history. So, Sean, did Team USA make a mistake by not including Clark on the team?
Sean Keeler:Team USA was under the hoop, wide open, and let a no-look pass from the basketball gods, delivered with a Nikola Jokic touch, slip right through their collective fingers. Since she reportedly tops the list of alternates for the team, I’m not giving up hope just yet. You would think the Olympic folks would be salivating at the chance to move boatloads of women’s hoops merch this summer and fall, but they sure didn’t waste much time torpedoing that idea.
Renck: Let me be clear. Clark wasn’t a snub. Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale fits that category. Team USA is advancing the notion of chemistry, that Clark missed practices and tryouts while she was playing for Iowa in the NCAA tournament. Of course, merit and fit apply. But the roster already includes exceptions. Chelsea Gray has not played since suffering a foot injury during the WNBA Finals last season. According to USA Today’s Christine Brennan, Clark was left off because of “concern over how Clark’s millions of fans would react to what would likely be limited playing time on a stacked roster.” Really? And who cares if Clark plays garbage time minutes? Don’t you want all the goodwill of her wearing the red, white and blue and signing autographs before the games?
Keeler: That’s a hilarious, bogus rationale on Team USA’s part, on several fronts. NBCUniversal, the rights-holders who help pull the strings, doesn’t give two hoots about how those “millions of fans would react” as long as those millions of fans are watching enough Team USA action to register in the ratings. “Well, we couldn’t do her justice” is just an excuse, as in an Olympic setting, with that many stars on the team, a good chunk of those ratings-grabbers don’t get the P.T. they want. Or deserve.
Renck: USA Basketball’s mission statement is about “promoting, growing and elevating the game.” This is my point. Team USA doesn’t need the best 12 players to win an eighth straight gold medal. Plus, miss me with the idea that Clark couldn’t be used to run off screens and shoot a few threes. But, this is not about basketball and comparing statistics. It’s about lifting the brand. Yes, Clark will be on the next Olympic team in Los Angeles, if healthy. But not including her on the 2024 team is beyond shortsighted because she will never mean more to women’s basketball than she does right now.
Keeler: Clark is the biggest single hoops sensation in America — and that popularity has spawned all kids of jealousy and rancor from some WNBA peers. So yeah, this feels like a political decision versus a marketing one. But with network TV billions on the table, I’m not convinced the latter forces won’t win out in the end. Although I also wouldn’t blame Clark for wanting a rest, either — as of Monday morning, she’s played 1,761 in-game, competitive minutes since the autumn, or about 500 more than she’d logged over any of her first three seasons with Iowa.
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