Indiana Fever rookie sensation Caitlin Clark is expected to be left off the 12-player Team USA women’s basketball roster for the upcoming Summer Olympics, according to sources briefed on the decision.
The roster indicates a preference for veterans with the selection of A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, Alyssa Thomas, Napheesa Collier, Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, Sabrina Ionescu, Chelsea Gray and Kahleah Copper, those sources said. The U.S. women have won gold at every Olympics since 1996, and this distinguished roster of All-Stars appears positioned to be a favorite in Paris.
Seven of the 12 players have Olympic five-on-five experience and two more have 3×3 experience, so there will be only three first-time Olympians — Thomas, Copper and Ionescu. Selected players began receiving their Team USA Olympics jerseys recently.
Taurasi, who will be 42 when the Games start, will be participating in her sixth Olympics, breaking an all-time international record she held with five other players, men and women. Her Phoenix Mercury teammate Griner has played in two prior Olympics.
Stewart, a two-time WNBA MVP and two-time finals MVP, will be competing in her third Olympics. In Tokyo in 2021, she averaged 15 points and 10 rebounds per game and was named the Olympic Tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
Wilson, another two-time WNBA MVP, scored 16.5 points per game in Tokyo in her Olympic debut and is off to a blazing start this WNBA season, averaging 28 points and 12.3 rebounds per game.
Clark, Brionna Jones and Aliyah Boston would likely be alternates if one of the 12 cannot play, sources said. Boston, Clark’s Fever teammate and last year’s WNBA Rookie of the Year, is another young talent notably left off the roster.