It’s been three days since reports came out that Caitlin Clark will not be included in the Team USA women’s basketball squad for the Paris Olympics. Since then, the internet has been in a frenzy as many believe that not including Clark might be a missed opportunity to grow women’s basketball. However, on a recent episode of UNDISPUTED, Rachel Nichols stated that she understands why CC was snubbed and stands by the decision of the selection committee.
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Nichols slammed the naysayers by claiming that the Olympics isn’t a popularity contest. Even if it was, Team USA has always been the dominant force on the global stage. Besides, she believes it’s harder for a player to secure a spot on the women’s team,
“It is harder to make the Team USA women’s team than it is the men, and here is why, not every single top player but nearly every top player who plays women’s basketball is American.”
However, in the case of the men’s team, some of the biggest names in the league currently are foreign players.
Another reason why she backs the decision to leave out Clark is that the women’s team will leave for Paris in the middle of their season. So, they can only get seven practices together as a team. In such a tightly packed schedule, it’s always better to assemble a team that already has the experience of playing together.
.@Rachel__Nichols agrees with Team USA’s decision to not put Caitlin Clark on Olympic roster:
“We expect her to make many Olympic teams in the future. There’s no reason to rush her.” pic.twitter.com/TiKnj8vftg
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) June 11, 2024
As for Clark, she would have been the only player under the age of 26 on the team, and she has never played with the other players on the roster. Nichols stated that Clark could be an alternate for the team, which would be a great opportunity for her to stay around her future national teammates.
This might also help her mitigate some of the animosity in the league. Despite a reasonable take, the analyst is one of the few people who believe Clark didn’t deserve a spot this year.
Shannon Sharpe and Paul Pierce root for Caitlin Clark
Even though Nichols believes that the Olympics isn’t a popularity contest, two veterans of the sports world think that popular athletes help grow the sport. On a recent episode of First Take, Shannon Sharpe lost his cool over Clark being left out of the team. The NFL legend questioned the intentions of the people who claim that they want to grow the league,
“Are we really trying to grow the game because this is the most popular women’s basketball player in the world, and it ain’t close.”
Paul Pierce sang the same song on UNDISPUTED, “The thing that bothers me the most is that you want the women’s game to grow and then you keep the most popular girl in women’s basketball off the team. Now how do you grow internationally and domestically if you don’t put her on the US Team?”
Maybe Pierce hopes for a Dream Team effect as far as the possible rise in popularity of the league is concerned. For now, the league might be looking forward to dominating on the international level and getting a gold for the country.
