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Much was made about Team USA's decision to leave out Caitlin Clark for this summer's Olympic Games. On one hand, she's a rookie with way more experienced players being picked ahead of her. On the other hand, no one has more star power than her and she's already playing great in the WNBA.
So far in Paris, the team hasn't really missed her. Team USA won all three of their group games and have easily been the best team. They will probably win gold without Clark. But could she have been more useful in another event?
Why doesn't Caitlin Clark play for Team USA 3x3 Basketball?
It's been brought up that the 3x3 basketball team would have been better off calling up Clark. The team won bronze, although many expected them to finish first.
According to longtime NBA reporter Brian Windhorst, FIBA makes it a bit complicated to qualify for the team. And he doesn't think FIBA wanted her to play anyway.
FIBA doesn't really want the US to do good at three on three. They really want that to be for countries that can't field five on five teams. And so they do all these things, like they have all these different layers and layers and layers of things that you have to do to qualify... But there were like 15 hoops she had to jump through. Because FIBA doesn't care about ratings. They just care about you know like growing the game elsewhere outside the US so that's not their priority.
It makes sense considering the United States dominates nearly every basketball event at seemingly every Olympics and FIBA competition. It surely would have been a spectacle to see Clark in that game environment, but fans will have to wait a bit longer to see her sport a Team USA jersey.