Sending Caitlin Clark home from the Paris Olympics was the right decision for the U.S. team.
It’s the right decision for Clark.
Clark’s participation would have brought more attention to the women’s basketball game, but the Olympics aren’t a participation trophy competition — it should be the best players, and as much as Clark’s fans hate to hear, she’s not currently one of the top 12 players in the United States.
She has too many turnovers — her total (67) and average (5.6 per game) are far higher than any other player in the WNBA — and those mistakes will likely increase in the Olympics, where she’ll be firing passes to players who haven’t had a chance to develop timing or chemistry.
Clark never even practiced with the senior national team. He was invited to the final training camp before selection, but like the past few years, he was forced to miss it during the Final Four. As you may recall, Clark was a bit busy that weekend as he led Iowa to its second consecutive finals appearance.
Clark’s defense is also still developing, which could make her a weakness, and as much as she struggles with the physicality of the WNBA, the international game is even tougher.
Yes, the U.S. women’s team has been so dominant, winning the past seven Olympics without dropping a game, but that also puts a huge target on their backs. Opponents only got emboldened in February, when the U.S. needed a Breanna Stewart buzzer-beater to edge out Belgium.
The same Belgian team is in the US women’s group in Paris along with Japan, who won silver in Tokyo.
That meant the U.S. team couldn’t give Clark a spot and generate the attention and hype it would bring: the stakes were too high and there was too much talent ahead of her.
“We know they’re the most competitive team in the world,” Clark said Sunday. “Honestly, I’m not disappointed.”
But this is as much about Clarke as it is about the U.S. team. She doesn’t need to go to Paris, where she’ll be at the end of the bench, in the middle of the circus. She needs a rest.
Desperately.
Iowa reached the finals in Clark’s final two seasons, with a European tour in between, meaning Clark had only missed about two months of the previous 15. Her WNBA debut was also hectic, with Indiana playing 11 games in 20 days and Clark leading the league in minutes played.
Clark’s game is no ordinary game run, either: Not only has she been the focal point of every defense, both at Iowa and now with the Indiana Fever, she’s also the center of intense national attention, and that attention is only growing.
Maybe only LeBron James and Lionel Messi can understand the burden Clarke is carrying. It’s not enough for her to play well; she has to elevate women’s basketball and be a champion for women’s sports. She has been drawn unsolicited into a national conversation about race and privilege, and opinions of her have become a kind of Rorschach test for a polarized nation.
“What’s the hardest part about being Caitlin Clark? I think it’s having to feel like you’re always on,” Clark said on “Full Court Press,” an ESPN documentary series that followed her, Camila Cardoso and UCLA’s Kiki Rice last season.
Clark has done it all with remarkable grace, but no one needs her three weeks off more than she does for the Olympics: to sleep, to rest, to lift weights so her body can withstand the hard hits that are a staple of the W, and to actually practice with her teammates.
One reason Clark has already seen so much turnover is because the Fever are a young team still trying to develop teamwork, which is hard to do with a schedule that gives little room for practice.
“It’s going to be really good,” Clark said when asked if the time off will benefit him. “I’ve loved every second of competing, but I think this month will be a great time to just rest my body and get healthy and just kind of disconnect from basketball and all the craziness that’s going on these days. Just find some peace and quiet for myself.”
“But on top of that, it’s a great opportunity for us to work on getting better. For me, it’s a great opportunity to get in the weight room, work on the court and work on the things I want to get better at that I might not have had time to do between going from college to the pro season,” she added. “So I’m looking forward to it.”
But that doesn’t mean Clark won’t use missing Paris as motivation — now and always. When she found out she didn’t make the team, Fever coach Christy Sides said Clark told her, “Coach, they’ve woken up a monster.”
Thank goodness, the U.S. women’s team will need Clark at some point in the near future, but for now the best way Clark can help herself and the U.S. team is to rest.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
