WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark is not expected to play for Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics according to reports.
ESPN, The Athletic, and USA Today have all reported that the Indiana Fever player, who was drafted this year and has been credited with the rise in popularity for the women's sport, will not be picked to appear on the roster for the national team.
The team will instead consist almost entirely of Olympic veterans, The Athletic reported, naming A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, Alyssa Thomas, Napheesa Collier, Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, Sabrina Ionescu, Chelsea Gray, Kahleah Copper and Brittney Griner.
There are three players who are first-timers — Alyssa, Sabrina and Kahleah — all of whom helped the American team win the World Cup in Australia in 2022.
It will be Brittney's first international game since she was released from Russian prison in December 2022 after serving ten months following an arrest for possessing vape cartridges containing cannabis oil.
The news will come as a shock to many, as for months it was thought Caitlin would be guaranteed a spot – as a rookie in the WNBA she has broken several records, including a record-tying seven three’s and scoring 30 points in front of the largest WNBA crowd in 17 years, 20,333 spectators, on Friday June 7 in Washington DC.
"I don’t know how you leave the country without her,” four-time Olympic gold medalist Lisa Leslie told The Sporting News.
Team USA has won Gold in women's basketball for the last 28 years, across seven Games.
Caitlin, 22, has previously played for Team USA on the junior teams, but she was unable to make the national training camp in Cleveland, Ohio earlier in the year as she was helping her college team, Iowa, make it to the Final Four; they lost to South Carolina.