Why Caitlin Clark’s Olympics omission might be blessing in disguise for her rookie season

Caitlin Clark was glowing, beaming like a student who had just finished her last exam of the semester.

“I’m on vacation,” she said as she burst into her postgame press conference minutes at the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game. “This is the last time for a month, so get your questions in now.”

A welcomed recess was upon her. For the first time since March 2023, she was receiving an extended break as the WNBA season went on a 24-day pause for the Paris Olympics. “I honestly can’t wait to not touch a basketball for a while,” Clark said.

Though Clark’s omission from the U.S. Olympic team caused a stir among fans, her absence from the roster may turn into one of the best things to happen to her as a rookie. Being left off Team USA has provided her with something more than motivation: time.

Caitlin Clark signing off from her first WNBA All-Star Weekend pic.twitter.com/VuQvAmO2KI

— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) July 21, 2024

Her schedule has been a slog — although a successful one — that few athletes can compare, even most contemporaries in her rookie class. As one of the sport’s brightest stars, she’s fit in cross-country trips for awards ceremonies and appearances into a schedule built around practices and games (69 in all including college and WNBA preseason action). After logging more minutes per game than any WNBA rookie in the last 20 years, she was ready for a break. With a chance to catch her breath, Clark seems poised to benefit when WNBA play resumes.

“There has to be a time where that has to stop and you have to take care of yourself and do things for yourself,” she said. “I think relaxing and reflecting on everything that’s happened to me over the course of the last year is going to be super important because my life has moved so fast.”

Clark established herself as an iron woman in college, playing all 139 games for Iowa over four spectacular seasons — the last two as the national Player of the Year. Her overall minutes — 4,832 — were the most of any Division I player during the four years she was in school. Over that span, she was one of only five to play more than 4,500 minutes and the only one to cross the 4,700-minute plateau.

She hasn’t let up in the WNBA in terms of productivity or workload. Already, she shoulders the responsibility of a seasoned vet. Clark leads the WNBA in assists, 3-point field goal attempts, turnovers and games played. Her 914 first-half minutes are the second most in the league this season, and she’s one of only three players to have played more than 850 minutes so far.

All that comes on the back of a full college campaign with only 21 days between Iowa’s appearance in the national championship in April and the start of WNBA training camp later that month.

Only 52 Division I players over the last 15 years have played at least 1,300 minutes in a college basketball season. Only three (Clark, Kelsey Plum and Maddy Siegrist) were drafted. Clark has already surpassed each of their season-long minute totals (Plum played 711 and Siegrist played 319).

The start to Clark’s career was also especially straining. Indiana opened with 11 games in 20 days. Plum played only six games in 20 days to open her 2017 rookie season. Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson both appeared in seven apiece in 2016 and 2018, respectively. Even Clark’s Fever teammate Aliyah Boston, the No. 1 pick in 2023, played in six games over her first 20 pro days.

The quick turnaround from college to the pros is unique to women’s basketball — for all players. Angel Reese, another standout rookie, led LSU deep into the NCAA Tournament while also competing in the spotlight and has similarly made a successful leap to the WNBA. (She set a league record with 15 consecutive double-doubles with the Chicago Sky.)

She and Clark were also selected as the first pair of rookies to compete in the WNBA All-Star Game since 2014.

“You hit the ground running,” said Storm veteran Nneka Ogwumike, who was the No. 1 pick in 2012 — another Olympic season. “Within a week (of the draft), you’re in your market and there’s really no breathing room. Being in an Olympic year, it gives you a lot of extra time to catch your bearings and just figure out the transition of it all.”

This year’s rookie class also is playing under a brighter spotlight than the WNBA has ever seen with increased ratings and a multitude of marketing opportunities — and responsibilities. Clark and Reese have sponsorship deals to manage. Clark made an appearance on “Saturday Night Live” prior to the WNBA Draft. She’s brokered a forthcoming signature sneaker deal with Nike.

Reese famously fit in an appearance at the Met Gala in New York before hustling back to Chicago for a preseason game. During the ongoing midsummer break, she was present at the French luxury conglomerate LVMH’s pre-Olympic party. “I wouldn’t change it for the world,” Clark said of her busy year.

But that doesn’t mean she and Reese aren’t looking forward to recharging. Clark wasn’t specific about her Olympic break plans but said she was wanted to keep her phone off for at least some of the hiatus. She said she wouldn’t touch a basketball for at least a week. Her teammate, Lexie Hull, said they had plans for a Mexico getaway.

“I’ve been playing basketball for a year straight. Just some time to breathe,” Clark said. “Get away from everything and really enjoy it because obviously this past year has been super crazy. … It will be good for me to get away from everything and just almost reflect and soak everything in.”

A second-half surge seems likely, for both Clark and the Fever, who are 11-15 overall but 9-6 over their last 15 games.

During All-Star weekend in Phoenix, Clark joked that she sprints everywhere. Her last run before her break officially began was out of the media room. After answering a final question about her game-high 10 assists, she rose quickly and waved goodbye.

“Have a nice month,” Clark said.

— The Athletic’s Sabreena Merchant contributed to this report.

(Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; Visual data: John Bradford / The Athletic; Photos of Caitlin Clark: Alex Slitz / Getty Images, Kate Frese / Getty Images)