In 2024, Caitlin Clark took the world by storm and became the most talked-about women’s basketball star of that year. She made it all the way to the NCAA championship game for the second year in a row and then was drafted No. 1 overall in the WNBA draft.
The coach who defeated Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes was Dawn Staley’s South Carolina. Staley was the one coaching USA Basketball that year in the Paris Olympics. This, however, got many criticizing her for leaving out the hottest name in basketball at that time, Caitlin Clark.
Despite the massive fan backlash, however, Staley stuck with her guns and stood by her decision not to have Clark on the USA Basketball squad, which won gold.
In a 2024 interview with NBC Sports, the then-USA Basketball coach noted that at that time of the selection, Clark was still just a rookie trying to find her bearings in the WNBA and was not yet playing as she was later that same season.
“As a committee member, you’re charged with putting together the best team of players, the best talent,” Dawn Staley explained. “Caitlin is just a rookie in the WNBA, wasn’t playing bad, but wasn’t playing like she’s playing now.”
Dawn Staley then went on to praise Caitlin Clark, saying that if they did the selection now, then she would have been considered highly.
“If we had to do it all over again, the way that she’s playing, she would be in really high consideration of making the team because she is playing head and shoulders above a lot of people,” Dawn Staley added. “Shooting the ball extremely well, I mean she is an elite passer, she’s just got a great basketball IQ, and she’s a little more seasoned in the pro game than she was two months ago.”
Caitlin Clark Was Not Disappointed After Being Left Out of USA’s Olympic Squad
Last year, Caitlin Clark admitted that she was not disappointed after not being name to the Olympic squad and was rather excited for those selected to play.
“I’m excited for the girls that are on the team,” she told ESPN last year. “I know it’s the most competitive team in the world and I know it could have gone either way — me being on the team or me not being on the team. I’m going to be rooting them on to win gold. I was a kid that grew up watching the Olympics, so it will be fun to watch them.”
WNBA players A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner headlined the team, which won gold in Paris.
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