Dawn Staley makes huge admission on Caitlin Clark’s Olympics omission

Staley explained that the Iowa legend “wasn’t playing bad” before the Olympics roster announcement on June 11, but “wasn’t
playing like she’s playing now.”

“She’s
shooting the ball extremely well. She’s an elite passer. She’s just got a great
basketball IQ. And she’s a little more seasoned in the pro game than she was
two months ago,” Staley said.

According to a report by Mark Puleo of The Athletic, Clark was averaging 16.3 points, 6.0 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game and shooting 37.0 percent from the field across her first 13 contests before the announcement. 

In 13 games since, the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer has upped her numbers to 17.9 points, 10.4 assists and 6.7 rebounds per game with a 43.4 percent field-goal percentage.

Clark also made history twice in July, becoming the first rookie in WNBA history to record a triple-double while finishing the first half of the campaign with a record-setting 19 assists in a game.

According to the selection committee, Clark hadn’t seen enough “high-level reps” to be a member of Team USA.

The American roster includes seven players (A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Brittney Griner, Chelsea Gray, Diana Taurasi, Jewell Loyd and Napheesa Collier) from the gold-medal-winning team in Tokyo three years ago. The group’s championship in 2021 was the seventh straight.

The youngest players on coach Cheryl Reeve’s team are 26-year-old guards Jackie Young and Sabrina Ionescu. Clark turned 22 in January.

Team USA will play its first game at 3 p.m. ET against Japan.