INDIANA Fever star Caitlin Clark would have had a great chance of making the Olympic roster if she had been selected closer to the 2024 Paris Games, former Team USA coach Dawn Staley said.
The now South Carolina coach was part of the Women’s Selection Committee that put together the team.
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Staley, 54, told NBC’s Mike Tirico that Clark’s game improved after the selection was made.
She said the uptick in form may have earned the WNBA rookie a spot on the Olympic team.
“As a committee member, you are in charge of bringing together [the] best team of players, best talent,” Staley said.
“Caitlin is just a rookie in the WNBA, [she] I wasn’t playing bad, but I wasn’t playing like she’s playing now.
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“If we had to do it all over again, the way she is playing, she would highly consider making the team because she is playing head and shoulders above a lot of people, shooting the ball extremely well.
“I mean, she’s an elite passer. She just has a great basketball IQ and is a little more experienced in the professional game in a few months than she was two months ago.”
Clark, 22, shot less than 30% from 3 and led the league in turnovers through the first few weeks of the 2024 WNBA season.
In the month leading up to the Olympics, the 6-foot point guard still turned the ball over a lot, recording 5.7 TOs per game.
At the same time, she averaged 18.8 points, 10.8 assists, 6.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals while shooting 44.5% from the field and 33.3% from 3.
In the final game before the Olympic break, Clark broke the WNBA single-game assists record, dishing out 19 dimes.
The Fever star made the All-Star team, which beat the United States women’s basketball team 117-109 in a friendly game a week before the start of the Paris Games.
She then sent a classy message to the Olympians when asked if she felt vindicated by the result.
“No,” she replied.
“They are very good. They have a lot of talent on this team.
“Four years earlier, I’m sure the WNBA team beat the US team, [and] they were perfectly fine at the Olympics.
“It actually shows how good this league is. It shows how much talent there is in this league and how you have to show up and prepare every night.
“There are a lot of players who aren’t even here tonight who could be here too. It just shows how much talent we have.”
Team USA would begin the women’s Olympic basketball tournament with a matchup against Japan on July 29.
They would also compete in the group with Belgium and Germany.
Meanwhile, Clark took advantage of the few weeks off the court to rest, traveling to Mexico with his boyfriend Connor McCaffery.
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