With a blend of criticism and support following USA Basketball’s decision to leave Fever star Caitlin Clark off the women’s national team roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello — who will coach the Australian national team again — doesn’t think that’ll translate to viewers not watching the sport on the international stage.
“It’s the Olympics,” Brondello said before the Liberty defeated the Mystics, 93-88, at Barclays Center on Sunday. “I mean, jeez, it doesn’t get much better than that … It’s the USA team. They’ve won 70 and lost three games, so who do you kick out? That’s tough decisions for their selection committee.”
Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu — with the latter appearing in her first Olympics — will represent the Liberty on a roster that also includes the Mercury’s Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner, the Sun’s Alyssa Thomas and the Aces’ A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum.
Jewell Loyd, Chelsea Gray and Napheesa Collier, who’ve all also logged Olympic appearances across their careers, will return, too.
But Clark, the former Iowa star and No. 1 overall pick who has averaged 16.8 points and 6.3 assists in her first 12 WNBA games, was left off the roster.
“It would mean everything,” Ionescu said. “Like, I was 15 years old and I made the U16 team the first time as an uninvited member. I just remember, like, showing up there kind of like a deer in headlights, but just believing in myself and wanting to go out there and compete with the best and I made that team. And just continue to stick with it and kind of bet on myself every single year and to be able to see that come full-circle, if I am able to make this team, would just mean so much to me and just the journey that I’ve had with USA Basketball just as an athlete.”
Speaking with reporters Sunday, Clark said she had “no disappointment” and knows the decision “could’ve gone either way.”
She’ll watch from afar, enjoy a multiple-week break and use the snub as motivation to make the next roster.
Fever head coach Christie Sides said that Clark told her USA Basketball’s decision “woke a monster.”
Team USA has won nine gold medals in women’s basketball at the Olympics dating back to 1976 — including the last seven — and secured its latest with a 15-point win over Japan in the Tokyo Olympics.
Clark, though, won’t add to the spotlight for now.
Her contribution to that layer of the international buzz and growth of the sport will have to wait until 2028.
“I know I’ll have tough decisions to make as well, too,” Brondello said. “You can’t keep everybody happy. You do what you think is best at the moment, and it’s Olympic games. Everyone will get their opportunity.”
