The tax that those in women’s basketball apply to Caitln Clark’s fame is incessant, and can be filled with wondrous lack of logic at times.
It was only a couple of hours after the former Iowa guard and her Indiana Fever team played at Washington in a WNBA road game on Friday night that drew more than 20,000 fans — the most for a league game since the 2007 WNBA Finals — when it was reported by USA Today’s Christine Brennan that Clark would not be on the 2024 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team.
At first glance, it seemed logical. Clark wasn’t at the team’s training camp in Cleveland in early April — there was this event in the same city called the NCAA Final Four she was participating in, so she was a little busy. And, by looking at the roster that is expected to be announced, while it was easy to argue why she should have been on the team, it was also difficult to point out who should have been left off.
But nothing is ever logical when it comes to the drama that surrounds Clark that is not anything of her own making.
By Saturday morning, Brennan, whose sources within the U.S. Olympic and women’s basketball communities are no doubt quite impeccable, had this to report about why Clark wasn’t selected:
“Two other sources, both long-time U.S. basketball veterans with decades of experience in the women’s game, told USA TODAY Sports Friday that concern over how Clark’s millions of fans would react to what would likely be limited playing time on a stacked roster was a factor in the decision making. If true, that would be an extraordinary admission of the tension that this multi-million-dollar sensation, who signs autographs for dozens of children before and after every game, has caused for the old guard of women’s basketball. The two people spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.”
Wait … what?
If you’re following along here, the plan of Clark wasn’t selected because what could be a lack of playing time will be a distraction, so let’s not pick her so now everyone over the next few weeks gets to be asked their opinion on why she wasn’t picked is a fascinating road map to follow.
It is also not surprising.
I should be used to the Clark microscope by now, having been there for her four seasons with the Hawkeyes, including this last one, when all of the national attention and the absurdity that always seems to come with it came roaring into Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Still, there is the constant wonderment of Are we really doing this?
Clark, to her credit, has always risen above it. Answering the same questions over and over again from those wanting to tell the definitive story that had already been done a few dozen times before had to get tiresome, but she did it.
And even now with the Fever, through the petulant comments and actions from those within the league and in the media swirling around it in a tornado that seems to grow by the day, she answers the questions without contributing additional fuel.
The leak of USA Basketball’s decision came after Clark dropped 30 points in the win over the Mystics, which just added to the bad look of it all. There is a constant stepping-on-the-rake of Clark’s detractors, and this was just the latest foible.
If anything, Clark can use the rest that comes from the WNBA’s break for the Olympics. She has been playing meaningful games since November, and combining that with all of what spins around her has to be exhausting.
The next few days and weeks will be all about the questions of whether Clark could have made a difference on the team, and so brace yourself for the intellectual dishonesty that comes with some of the arguments against.
And then remind yourself that, yes, we’re really doing this.