If there has been one topic that has dominated the world of women's sports, especially basketball, it has been the discussion of including the likes of Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark on Team USA for this summer's Olympics and her exclusion. A former NBA player in Carmelo Anthony gave his thoughts on the matter via his show called “7PM In Brooklyn” with Kid Mero where he talked about how Clark's inclusion would help the marketing aspect, but the timing has not been her favor.
“The women's U.S. national team has been dominant forever whether who comes on that team or not, that team is going to always be dominant,” Anthony said. “So now what happens is you have the domination and you also have the eyeballs now…to your point, to your question, she hasn't been at camp, she hasn't been at practice. So it's no disrespect to her not making a team, it is the timing of the season, right? It's the timing of the sport.”
“Whether you’re the best player at the 12th or the best player at the number 1 position, you have to earn your keep and for me honestly,” Anthony continued. “I think the timing f*cks everything up for Caitlin. You haven't been to camp…and I think those ladies in front of you right now, they've been there, they earned it, they deserve it, and they're going to go over there and win a gold medal and you gotta wait your turn.”
Other former NBA players say Fever's Clark should be on Team USA
Besides the topic of conversation being relevant, the guest on his show was women's basketball analyst Monica McNutt who leans on the side of Clark earning her way into the Olympics team rather than being inserted since she is popular. There have been other former NBA players that have agreed with Anthony with one being Paul Pierce who on his show “All The Smoke” with Kevin Garnett and said that Clark plus even fellow rookie Angel Reese should be on Team USA.
“Angel Reese and Caitlin, I would've put both of them on the Olympic team for the simple fact that I really didn’t watch the Olympic girls just to be 100 with you, but if that had happened I probably would’ve watched,” Pierce said. “I catch the highlights here and see they’re blowing everybody out by 50. They won their last 8 Olympics and we always catch the Gold, but like s—t I would’ve watched the preliminaries, and the pool play and all that if they threw these two on there.”
“Say you got the 100 Meters, the swimming, and the basketball all on the same time, if she’s on that team, they’re going to give that the coverage that day,” Pierce continued. “I just think, just for that aspect, and I don’t even care what nobody else thinks, you should've did it.”
This season, Clark has averaged 15.6 points, 6.0 assists, and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 36.7 percent from the field in her first 15 games with Indiana. The Fever are currently 5-10 on the season which puts them fourth in the Eastern Conference as their next contest will be on Wednesday, June 19 against the Washington Mystics.
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