🚨Dawn Staley Just Told The SHOCKING TRUTH Why Caitlin Clark Was SNUBBED From Paris Olympics‼️ – They didn’t take the best 12 | HO
It looks like Dawn Staley has confirmed that the USA Women’s Basketball Committee possibly made a mistake by snubbing Caitlin Clark from the Olympics. For this story, we have to go all the way to Paris. Let’s dive in.
Dawn Staley is making headlines for her role in excluding Caitlin Clark from this year’s Olympics. Since the news broke that Clark will not be joining the US Women’s Basketball team in Paris, there has been an online uproar. The situation escalated to the point where the United States Olympic CEO had to make a statement regarding Clark’s omission.
Staley appeared on NBC Today, admitting that the committee might have gotten it wrong by not including Clark. She mentioned that if they had to do it all over again, Clark would likely be on the team. This is a significant admission, as Staley is the first committee member to take responsibility for the snub.
The article goes on to state that Staley, a member of the Team USA Women’s Basketball team committee, believes Caitlin Clark’s case for inclusion in the 2024 Summer Olympics would look different if the team was picked now. The United States finalized its 12-player Olympic squad on June 11. At that time, Clark was averaging 16.3 points per game, with 37% shooting, along with 4.9 rebounds and 6 assists. Her production didn’t make her a lock for Paris, as she had to miss a critical training camp period in April while playing in the Final Four.
Indiana Fever star wasn’t a universally popular pick, but it had reasonable explanations. According to Staley, Clark’s performance would have looked stronger if the Team USA had the entire first half of the WNBA season to assess. In 13 games after the Olympic cut-off, Clark averaged 17 points and 10 assists. She even set a single-game record with 19 assists in the All-Star game before the Olympic break.
Staley appeared on NBC just moments ago to discuss this issue. She suggested that US Basketball should have picked Clark, anticipating her performance would naturally improve as she found her comfort zone closer to the Summer Games. The committee had to work with the evidence available at the time, which didn’t favor Clark, who was not off to a blistering start and lacked experience with the senior national team. This aspect was critical in their decision not to include her.
Several Indiana Fever beat writers and USA Today reporter Christine Brennan weighed in on the topic. Brennan stated, “USA Basketball’s snub of Caitlin Clark was the worst player selection decision I’ve seen in my 40 years covering the Olympics. What a mistake.” She expressed relief that Staley is taking responsibility but questioned why other committee members, such as Cheryl Reeve, have remained silent.
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