The president of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic organizing committee called Caitlin Clark’s exclusion from the US team a “missed opportunity.”
“She was clearly a generational talent and I think she was missed out at a time when the world needed her,” Casey Wasserman, a sports agent whose firm bears her name, said in an interview. USA TodayChristine Brennan.
Wasserman acknowledged there was “tremendous talent” in women’s football but argued the current situation did not allow the environment to showcase that talent.
“Take Diana (Taurasi) or Breanna Stewart or any of our (Wasserman) clients who are coming on the team,” he said, “and they’re more dominant than we’ve ever seen them, but the world wasn’t ready to fill a stadium the way Caitlin Clark did at the Final Four.”
Wasserman echoed the arguments of many fans who believe the United States Basketball Association should have selected Clark for the 2024 Summer Olympics. The Indiana Fever star could have brought extra momentum to the Summer Olympics and the U.S. team in the same way that she brought so much attention to the WNBA.
But that effect may have diminished when it became clear that the No. 1 overall pick would be a reserve for the U.S. Although Clark has been good (16.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 6.2 assists), he is not the best guard on the national team.
At the last Olympics, Washington Mystics’ Arielle Atkins, Seattle Storm’s Skylar Diggins-Smith and Minnesota Lynx’s Napheesa Collier all played less than 40 minutes throughout the tournament, which may have weakened Clark’s box office impact.
The good news for Wasserman is that the 22-year-old should be in a much stronger position to represent the U.S. national team in 2028.
