Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark has revolutionized women's basketball, drawing more eyes to the sport than it has ever had before. That's why her exclusion from the Team USA roster in the 2024 Paris Olympics has caused an uproar in the hoops world, with many people having differing opinions.
Retired NBA star Gilbert Arenas thinks that Clark's snubbing is egregious, comparing it to the 1992 men's “Dream Team,” via Gil's Arena.
“When Magic [Johnson] made ‘92, he didn’t deserve to be on the team, he wasn’t even in the league, but he was Magic Johnson,” Arenas explained. “This is the first time we’re bringing pros we need to most popular names the world knows. Which was Magic, who was retired, they bring his a– in. They brought back ‘bad back’ Bird, right. People don’t know that was his last games was USA Basketball. They brung him because he was the most popular.”
Arenas raised a valid point, as Johnson and Bird were both well past their primes by the time the 1992 Olympics rolled around. However, their iconic statuses within the sport earned them the right to be included in what's possibly still the greatest collection of basketball talent ever assembled.
“So two people, who were the most popular were put on the team, which means two players, who were probably All-NBA didn’t get put on the team,” Arenas continued. “And we know one of them, because he talks about it all the time, Isiah [Thomas], who was he removed for, Magic.”
Thomas famously reminisced about getting excluded from the Dream Team despite meeting “the criteria” in “The Last Dance” docu-series, which centered around Michael Jordan's life and career, via YouTube.
That team focused more on star power and popularity than pure skill, whereas the 2024 women's squad based its selections entirely on basketball production.
Should the team have taken Clark's box-office stardom into account, or is it better off without the distraction for now?
While Clark is a revolutionary player, she shouldn't be in the Olympics just for popularity
Fellow NBA retiree Kenyon Martin shrewdly pointed out that Clark could use some more skin in the game before representing her country. It would also be a distraction to have her on the bench and not receive a lion's share of the minutes.
“They blow everybody out, well she’s going to play, she’s going to get some minutes,” Martin said. “She’s going to play so my thing is, they’re going on years of experience, the skill set and not the popularity part of it.”
Health-permitting, Clark is a shoo-in to make the Olympic squad in 2028. For now, though, including her would've been more trouble than what it's worth.
Just because Magic and Bird similarly popularized the sport back in their heyday, doesn't mean that the women's team has to give Clark the same treatment. If she'd been selected, she might've unfairly gotten more attention than superior players, like A'ja Wilson and Sabrina Ionescu.
When and if Clark becomes the best player in the world, this will be a non-issue. For now, though, she needs to stop leading the WNBA in turnovers (5.4 per game) before worrying about the Olympics.
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