Brittney Griner will soon play for a third Olympic gold medal with Team USA. As the 2024 Games approach later this summer, the Phoenix Mercury star is clearly more invested in continuing the global supremacy of American women's basketball than litigating Caitlin Clark's omission from the roster for Paris.
Asked about the Indiana Fever rookie's perceived snub from Team USA on Tuesday, Griner stressed just how difficult it's always been for the USA Basketball selection committee to whittle the women's roster down to 12 players.
“I don't wanna be on that committee, you know? I've always said it—it's a hard committee,” she said, per Desert Wave Media. “There's so many times each year on who is on the team, who isn't on the team. It's tough, it's tough. I think anybody that's on this team can go, can win. But we'll see in the future how it goes.”
USA Basketball officially unveiled its final women's roster for the 2024 Olympics on Tuesday. Joining Griner in Paris on a veteran-laden Team USA are Mercury teammate and fellow future Hall-of-Famer Diana Taurasi, reigning WNBA Finals MVP A'ja Wilson, New York Liberty teammates Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu, Las Vegas Aces guards Chelsea Grey, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young, do-everything Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas, Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier, Mercury scorer Kahleah Copper and Seattle Storm playmaker Jewell Loyd.
Selection committee chair Jen Rizzotti addressed Clark's exclusion for the first time on Tuesday, stressing her status as the WNBA's most popular, marketable player didn't factor into USA Basketball's decision-making.
“It would be irresponsible for us to talk about her in a way other than how she would impact the play of the team,” she said of Clark, per ESPN. “Because it wasn't the purview of our committee to decide how many people would watch or how many people would root for the U.S. It was our purview to create the best team we could for [coach Cheryl Reeve].”
Caitlin Clark's response to perceived Team USA snub
As the maelstrom surrounding Clark's omission continued swirling, the Fever's franchise player did her best to quell the controversy. She not only expressed no disappointment at being left off Team USA, but wished the Americans well on their quest for an eighth straight Olympic gold.
“Honestly, no disappointment. I think it just gives you something to work for. That’s a dream,” Clark said, per James Boyd of The Athletic. “Hopefully one day I can be there. I think it’s just a little more motivation. You remember that.
“I'm excited for the girls who are on the team,” she continued. “I know it's the most competitive team in the world, and I know it could have gone either way of me being on the team, me not being on the team, so I'm excited for them. I'm going to be rooting them on to win gold. I was a kid that grew up watching the Olympics, so it'll be fun to watch them.”
It bears stressing that Ionescu, 26 years old and in midst of her fifth WNBA season, is the least experienced player on Team USA's roster. Continuity and comfort with the international game clearly loomed large to the selection committee, attributes Clark lacks compared to those headed to Paris.
The University of Iowa icon hasn't exactly set the league ablaze early in her career, either. Though Clark is averaging solid numbers of 16.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and six assists per game, she's shooting just 37.3% overall and 33.0% from deep while leading the WNBA in turnovers, unable to lift Indiana, just 3-10, from the bottom of the standings.
Still, expect Clark to be a fixture with USA Basketball going forward if she comes to living up to the unprecedented hype surrounding her arrival in the W.
“She's certainly going to continue to get better and better,” USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley said of Clark. “Really hope that she's a big part of our future going forward.”
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