The U.S. women’s basketball team roster for the 2024 Summer Olympics has been finalized, but it reportedly does not include Indiana Fever star and WNBA rookie star Kaitlyn Clark.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, the 12-man roster for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris is as follows:
- A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces)
- Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury)
- Brittney Griner (Phoenix Mercury)
- Sabrina Ionescu (New York Liberty)
- Breanna Stewart (New York Liberty)
- Kelsey Plum (Las Vegas Aces)
- Alyssa Thomas (Connecticut Sun)
- Napheesa Collier (Minnesota Lynx)
- Jewell Loyd (Seattle Storm)
- Jackie Young (Las Vegas Aces)
- Chelsea Gray (Las Vegas Aces)
- Kalia Cooper (Phoenix Mercury)
The U.S. team will be competing for its eighth consecutive Olympic gold medal and its 10th overall since women’s basketball was added to the Olympic Games in 1976.
Wilson and Stewart are two of the best players the WNBA has seen in recent years and will be the keys to Team USA’s success in France.
Wilson was named WNBA MVP in 2020 and 2022, won back-to-back WNBA championships and also won WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, and was also named WNBA Finals MVP in 2023.
The South Carolina star is averaging 28.0 points and 12.3 rebounds per game this season and may be on her way to winning her third WNBA MVP award.
Stewart was named WNBA MVP for the second time in her career last year in her first season with the Liberty after spending her first six WNBA seasons with the Storm.
She led New York to the WNBA Finals, and although the Liberty fell short, they seem poised to be championship contenders for years to come with Stewart leading the way.
Taurasi, 41, has continued to excel in the WNBA and will have a chance to make history in Paris.
Taurasi currently ties with retired WNBA legend Sue Bird for the most women’s basketball Olympic gold medals with five, and if the heavy favorites, like the U.S., win gold this summer, as expected, Taurasi will break that record and become the record holder with six gold medals.
Many expected Clark to be on the team, as she is one of the greatest players in women’s college basketball history.
Clark was named Iowa’s National Collegiate Player of the Year for the second consecutive season and left the school as the all-time leading scorer in Division I college basketball history for both women and men.
The Fever selected Clark with the first overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, and although she is averaging 6.8 points, 6.3 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game, she is shooting just 37.0 percent from the field and the Fever are off to a 3-9 start.
Christine Brennan USA Today Reports on Saturday cited two sources as saying the decision to leave Clark out of the roster stemmed from “concerns about how Clark’s millions of fans would react to potentially limited playing time among a well-stocked roster.”
It’s a controversial decision to ignore a talented athlete like Clark, but the U.S. team’s depth from top to bottom makes them the favorites to win gold in Paris.
