USA Basketball has left WNBA star rookie Caitlin Clark off the women’s national team roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
It was a highly anticipated decision to see if Clark would be included on the roster and conversations have already stemmed from her absence.
Clark has brought unprecedented levels of attention to women’s college basketball. The 22-year-old has been a TV ratings monster over the last calendar year, breaking several viewership and attendance records from her Iowa senior season into her WNBA rookie season.
Several sports business pundits were quick to point out how Clark’s omission would negatively impact the interest surrounding the USA women’s basketball team at the Olympics and how that would affect NBC Sports’ TV ratings for the event.
The morning of the reported roster announcement, USA Today’s Christine Brennan — who has been covering U.S. women’s basketball at the Olympics since 1984 — explained why Clark did not make the cut.
MORE: Leaving Caitlin Clark off the Olympic Team is a mistake that didn’t need to happen
Why Caitlin Clark was snubbed from United States women’s basketball Olympic roster
USA Basketball elected to take a veteran-led team to Paris in pursuit of its ninth-consecutive gold…
