Los Angeles Sparks center Cameron Brink’s season-ending knee injury is a major blow to women’s basketball, as the highly-anticipated rookie has played phenomenal basketball since making her WNBA debut.
But Brink was a star player on the women’s 3×3 basketball team, and her torn ACL was also a devastating blow to the U.S. Olympic team.
Earlier this month, Brink was selected to the four-person 3×3 team along with Valencia forward Sierra Burdick, Atlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard and TCU guard Hailey Van Lith. Brink, Burdick and Van Lith will represent the U.S. in the 2023 3×3 World Cup and win a gold medal. The fourth member of that team was guard Rinee Harper, who is currently a free agent.
The U.S. team won the World Cup last summer, finishing with a 3-1 record in pool play and defeating Japan, Austria, China, and France in the final tournament. Brink was named to the tournament’s all-star team and was named the tournament MVP.
Team USA is the defending Olympic champion in women’s 3×3 basketball. In the 2020 Olympics, Stephanie Dolson, Alisha Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young won pool play 6-1, defeating France in the semifinals and Russia in the gold medal game. Plum was tied for the tournament lead with 55 points, but will now play on a 5×5 team.
The first thought that comes to mind is that maybe Caitlin Clark will have a chance to play in the Paris Olympics. But that’s not the case. Brink is a versatile forward who can play in the post and shoot from the outside. The U.S. will almost certainly need to find a big man to replace her, not a point guard. It’s a shame there’s no room for Clark on the team, but she just doesn’t seem like a good fit.
The Olympics is expected to name Brink’s successor within days.
