Caitlin Clark says she’s not dissatisfied with Olympics snub

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, the No. 1 choose in April’s WNBA draft, stated she is happy to root for the U.S. girls’s basketball group within the upcoming Paris Olympics and wasn’t dissatisfied to not be on the group — however she did see it as motivation.

USA Basketball hasn’t formally launched the 12 group members, however the names have been leaked and confirmed Saturday by ESPN.

“I am excited for the ladies which are on the group,” Clark informed reporters Sunday. “I do know it is essentially the most aggressive group on the planet and I do know it may have gone both manner — me being on the group or me not being on the group. I will be rooting them on to win gold. I used to be a child that grew up watching the Olympics, so it will likely be enjoyable to look at them.

“Truthfully, no disappointment. It simply provides me one thing to work for; it is a dream. Hopefully at some point I could be there. I believe it is just a bit extra motivation. You do not forget that. Hopefully when 4 years comes again round, I could be there.”

Indiana Fever coach Christie Sides stated Clark acquired the information Friday she wouldn’t be on the group. Clark went on to attain 30 factors that night time in a victory over Washington.

“The factor she stated was, ‘Hey, Coach, they woke a monster,’ which I believed was superior,” Sides stated. “She’s younger, she’s going to have so many alternatives sooner or later.”

Clark turned 22 in January. The U.S. roster doesn’t embody any gamers below 26, the age of New York’s Sabrina Ionescu and Las Vegas’ Jackie Younger, who like Clark have been WNBA No. 1 picks. It will likely be Ionescu’s first Olympic look and Younger’s second — she gained gold with the U.S. 3×3 group within the 2020 Video games.

That age issue makes the roster for the Paris Video games completely different from any of the earlier 12 for the U.S. girls, which incorporates 1980 when the Individuals named a group however did not compete as a result of the USA boycotted the Moscow Video games.

The Individuals have had no less than two gamers below age 25 on each different Olympic roster courting again to the 1976 Montreal Video games, when girls’s basketball debuted as an Olympic sport. The youngest ever to play for the U.S. girls within the Olympics was Nancy Lieberman, who was 18 in 1976. The youngest gamers for the U.S. within the Tokyo Video games have been Las Vegas’ A’ja Wilson and Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier, each 24 then.

The U.S. additionally has a historical past of together with the No. 1 WNBA choose in an Olympic 12 months on the group: that occurred for Phoenix’s Diana Taurasi in 2004, for Los Angeles’ Candace Parker in 2008 and Breanna Stewart (who was then with Seattle and now with New York) in 2016.

The U.S. group did not do this for Nneka Ogwumike (then in Los Angeles, now in Seattle) in 2012 and now additionally has bypassed Clark. She turned the Division I profession scoring chief for ladies or males whereas at Iowa, ending with 3,951 factors and making it to the nationwide championship sport as a junior and senior.

Clark’s omission has prompted debate amongst those that suppose the USA is lacking out on giving a younger star with an enormous fan following the prospect to get expertise now with the Olympic group vs. those that suppose the group did not have a spot for her with the expertise already there. Taurasi, who turns 42 on June 11, shall be enjoying in her sixth Olympics.

“They known as me and let me know in the beginning got here out, which was actually respectful of them, and I appreciated that,” Clark stated of USA Basketball officers. “They did the identical for each lady that made the group or each lady that did not make the group. There was numerous gamers within the Olympic pool, it isn’t like I used to be the one one they needed to name. They needed to make fairly a couple of calls.”

There’s nonetheless the opportunity of harm leading to an alternate making the group. Previously, USA Basketball usually has not publicly introduced who the Olympic alternates are. The projected roster and listing of potential alternates should be submitted to FIBA, basketball’s world governing physique, by about June 24.

Additionally, if gamers are named to an Olympic group, they aren’t routinely eliminated if injured earlier than the Video games. Gamers should agree to surrender their spot if they’re unable to compete.

The rosters for basketball are finalized about 24 hours earlier than the primary sport of the Olympic match and after that may’t be modified.

Two of the Olympic veterans named to the squad, Phoenix heart Brittney Griner and Las Vegas guard Chelsea Grey, each have been coping with accidents this season. Griner performed her first sport of the season Friday; Grey has but to play.

The Olympics are July 26-Aug. 11. The WNBA pauses its common season after the video games July 17 and resumes play Aug. 15. The WNBA All-Star Recreation is July 20 in Phoenix; it’s going to pit Workforce USA vs. the WNBA All-Stars not on the Olympic group, which may embody Clark.

Clark is averaging 16.8 factors, 6.3 assists and 5.3 rebounds for the 3-9 Fever, who face Connecticut on Monday. Whereas Clark would have favored to make the Olympic group, she has been going nonstop because the school season began final fall and sees a profit within the monthlong break.

“Completely, it is going to be very nice,” Clark stated. “I’ve liked competing each single second. However it is going to be an awesome month for my physique to get relaxation, get wholesome and simply get a bit time away from basketball and the craziness of the whole lot that is been occurring. And simply discover some peace and quiet for myself.

“However then moreover, it is an awesome alternative for us to work and get higher. An amazing alternative for myself to get within the weight room. To work on the court docket … at issues that I wish to get higher at that I perhaps did not have time [to] going from school to the professional season.

“So I am trying ahead to it. However on the similar time, we nonetheless have a month of video games [ahead] the place we’ve numerous alternatives to win numerous video games. That is the place my primary focus is.”

The choice to depart Clark off the roster was first reported by The Athletic.