Should Caitlin Clark be on Team USA for the 2024 Paris Olympics?

The question, “Should Caitlin Clark be on Team USA?” is bigger than Clark. It’s about how USA Basketball will navigate matters of race, gender and capitalism.

 

Will USA Basketball chose to ride the Caitlin Clark Effect to Paris for the 2024 Olympics? Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images

Last week, the 2024 Olympic roster for the USA Basketball Men’s National Team was announced. It’s a star-studded group, specially selected by managing director Grant Hill.

When might we learn who will be representing the USA Basketball Women’s National Team in Paris?

e American women. The attendees were Ariel Atkins, Shakira Austin, Aliyah Boston, Chelsea Gray, Brittney Griner, Rhyne Howard, Sabrina Ionescu, Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Plum, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young. Among the notable players missing from Cleveland were Napheesa Collier and Kahleah Cooper, standouts from February’s FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament squad who were preparing to compete in the EuroLeague Women Final Four. Caitlin Clark also was invited to the training camp and, had Iowa not advanced to the Final Four, would have participated. That’s 16 names; there are 12 spots on the Olympic roster to be selected by national team director Briana Weiss and a committee of six or seven.

In contrast to their male counterparts, who, despite winning gold in every Olympics since 2004, have experienced a number of close calls and fallen short in other international competitions, the American women are almost guaranteed to win an eighth-straight gold, even if 12 names from the player pool were randomly selected out of a hat. That’s a sentiment that reeks of American exceptionalism, but it’s also one that’s difficult to dispute.

Because that’s the reality, the competition (or “competition”) for the final roster is worth unpacking. Yes, USA Basketball wants to send the best players to Paris, but, not unlike the men’s team, they also want to players chosen to wear red, white and blue to communicate a certain idea of American basketball and, in turn, America. For the men’s side, it’s undeniable, all-time star power, with a side of defensive versatility. What will the team of 12 women say about the United States?

Will Team USA “Just do it” and choose Caitlin Clark?

Optimistically, the 12 players selected for Paris will be a manifestation of the (supposed) American ideal of meritocracy, where those that perform best on the basketball court secure a passport to Paris.

The history of USA Basketball, not to mention the history of the United States, indicates that has not been the case. (Ask Candace Parker. Or, ask why injury risk was a concern for Nneka Ogwumike, but not Diana Taurasi.) Over the years, the composition of Olympic teams also has raised questions about favoritism toward a certain college program and the influence of Nike. The Swoosh’s slogan, “Just do it,” could be taken as the meritocratic mantra motivating Team USA when, in fact, it better expresses how the dictates of capitalism are intertwined with the processes and priorities of USA Basketball. And in the United States, heteronormative whiteness remains the foundation of capitalism. (Two WNBA titles, two MVPs, two DPOYs and a Finals MVP, but still no signature shoe?) Will it also be foundational to Team USA’s final roster decisions?

All that’s a highfalutin way of asking if Caitlin Clark will make the final 12-player roster, carrying American eyeballs, interest and dollars with her across the Atlantic. Although Clark’s skills, playing style, moxie and mentality do contribute to her overwhelming popularity, it cannot be ignored how her image—the ostensible all-American white girl next door who comes from a stable, supportive heteronormative family—embodies what the American public traditionally has wanted from its women athletes. All the numbers—of viewers, of tickets, of jerseys and of endorsements—confirm as much. Will Team USA also buy into the Caitlin Clark Effect?

The Caitlin Clark Corollary

This is not to say that Clark is not deserving of making the roster; her playmaking and pull-up shooting should translate to the international stage, especially when surrounded by top-tier talents. But, will it be her basketball abilities—and only her basketball abilities—that not only make her deserving but also more deserving than other contenders?

Call it the Caitlin Clark Corollary. Clark’s cultural prominence is a consequence of how American sports are a reflection—or even intensification—of capitalist American society, with all it’s deeply-engrained, historically-accumulated inequities, biases and privileges. None of it is Clark’s fault; she just exposes the deep, intersecting fault lines of race, class, gender and sexuality. How will USA Basketball choose to traverse this landscape?

The next training camp is scheduled for WNBA All-Star Weekend in Phoenix, when Team USA also will take on the WNBA All-Stars in the 20th WNBA All-Star Game. Then, the final Olympic squad will be off to London, where the American women complete their preparations for Paris with an exhibition match against the German Women’s National Team at the USA Basketball Showcase on July 23.