After failing to make Team USA’s initial roster last summer for the 2024 Summer Olympics, Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark had an opportunity to represent her country in another event but passed on the chance. This, according to an excerpt from USA Today’s Christine Brennan’s new book “On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports.”
Brennan’s book, which releases in July, details Clark’s impact on women’s basketball upon her entry in the WNBA as last year’s No. 1 overall pick.
“Clark did have another option to get to Paris: the US women’s 3×3 team,” Brennan wrote in an excerpt obtained by PEOPLE. “Even though she had never played on a national 3×3 team (she had experience on U.S. under-16 and under-19 5×5 teams), USA Basketball offered her a spot on the 3×3 team well before June, knowing there was a qualifying event for her to play in to become eligible for the Olympics, according to two sources with knowledge of those conversations.”
Team USA took bronze in Paris during the 3×3 event — which began in 2020 — with a 6-4 overall record on a team featuring Hailey Van Lith, Cierra Burdick, Dearica Hamby and Rhyne Howard.
Brennan wrote in the book that Clark and her team declined the offer and kept their focus on training for her WNBA career. Clark was a top alternate for the 12-player team.
Clark, who was averaging 16.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists per contest over the first 16 games of her rookie season, was not disappointed after Team USA was announced.
“I think it just gives you something to work for,” Clark said, per the Indianapolis Star. “It’s a dream. Hopefully one day I can be there. I think it’s just a little more motivation. You remember that. Hopefully when four years comes back around, I can be there.”
Casey Wasserman, the president of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, did not like the decision from Team USA to not include a generational rookie like Clark on its Olympics roster.
“I think it’s a missed opportunity because she’s clearly a generational talent at a time when the world was ready for it,” Wasserman said last summer. “There have been incredible talents in the world, shame on all of us, the world wasn’t in a place to embrace that. Take Diana (Taurasi) or Breanna Stewart, or some of our (Wasserman) clients who are going to be on the team. They are dominant at a level that’s never been seen before but the world wasn’t ready to fill a building like Caitlin Clark did for … the Final Four.”
Without Clark, Team USA cruised to gold in Paris thanks to a star-studded roster that featured A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, Alyssa Thomas, Napheesa Collier, Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, Sabrina Ionescu, Chelsea Gray and Kahleah Copper.
