Credit- USA TODAY Sports

Team USA Women’s basketball roster is as stacked as the Men’s team. However, the fact that Caitlin Clark was snubbed from the women’s team is something that has upset many in the basketball community. The common consensus is that the Women’s Selection Committee fumbled the ball to promote the WNBA in front of a global audience by leaving out Clark and Angel Reese from the roster, who are the two most popular female players on the planet.

The latest addition to voice their concern regarding this is Draymond Green.

Green expressed his disagreement over CC not being part of the Team USA women’s basketball roster this year. Taking to his podcast The Draymond Green Show, Draymond made some valid points that do hold merit.

“I think Caitlin Clark should’ve been on the USA team. It’s great for the brand. Let’s not—We talk brand any other time, let’s not act like it don’t matter now. It matters, 100%. If you think about what the 1992 Barcelona team, the Dream Team did for the brand of basketball, the W(NBA) are still in those phases of the NBA.”

Green had NBA legend Baron Davis as a guest who also shared the same views as him. He felt that the WNBA was still trying to gain popularity outside of the United States. And having Clark on the roster would’ve greatly benefitted the brand of women’s basketball.

“It must be about spreading this globally and she’s the biggest global star in women’s basketball…But like, just from a pure branding and marketing standpoint, Caitlin’s the biggest.”

The Golden State Warriors forward’s perspective does make sense as Clark’s popularity and brand would’ve drawn more eyes, attention, and viewership for the WNBA. Moreover, the Women’s field is not as competitive as the Men’s road to Gold. So, replacing two more capable players with Clark and Reese wouldn’t have made any impact on the team’s quest for Gold.

CC and AR’s NCAA battles drew some of the biggest viewership numbers in history. As per ESPN, about 12.3 million people watched their 2022 NCAA women’s final rematch and the 2023 NCAA Finals drew 16.1 million viewers.

Dawn Staley regretted leaving out Clark

One of the reasons why Caitlin Clark was not part of the Team USA roster was because she had yet to make an impact in the WNBA when the selection process was going on.

Another reason that was initially given was that the USA roster is stacked with more capable players than Reese and Clark. It would have been difficult to justify the addition of two rookies.

However, Dawn Staley, who is a member of the selection committee, recently admitted that Clark’s omission was a mistake.

“If we had to do it all over again, the way that she’s playing, she would be in really high consideration of making the team because she is playing head and shoulders above a lot of people.”

Now, Caitlin has expressed interest in representing her country and playing in the Olympics. So it is safe to say that she’s certainly making the roster in the next edition of the competition.