Caitlin Clark’s 2024 Olympics snub is a ‘good thing for her’: Jemele Hill

Caitlin Clark likely won’t be competing for Team USA this summer in Paris, and at least one media pundit thinks it’s an overall net positive for the basketball phenom.

According to multiple reports, Clark, the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s WNBA draft, has been left off the U.S. team’s 2024 Olympics roster as the Americans go with a veteran-laden group.

USA Today also reported that Clark’s popularity — in tandem with the potential reaction to her likely lack of playing time she would have gotten in Paris — factored into the decision.
Caitlin Clark won’t be on the USA Olympics squad this year.Getty Images
While some have rebuked USA Basketball for its choice, Jemele Hill believes the decision is ultimately the right one for Clark because of the sheer number of games she’s played over the last calendar year.

“Honestly, Caitlin Clark not being on this year’s Olympics team is actually a good thing — FOR HER,” Hill, the former ESPN anchor and current Atlantic writer wrote on X on Saturday. “In the span of weeks, she went from playing college ball, to becoming a professional, to having a grind of schedule. A multi-week break probably isn’t the worst thing in the world. She will eventually make an Olympic team.”

Hill added that she believes both the WNBA’s health and Olympic TV ratings will still be fine even without Clark in the fold.

She also added that she feels Clark not being selected doesn’t even really qualify as a “snub.”
Jemele Hill didn’t think Caitlin Clark was snubbed.CraSH/imageSPACE / MEGA
“I don’t consider Caitlin Clark being left off the Olympic team, a snub,” Hill wrote in an additional X post. “Now when Candace Parker and Nneka Ogwumike were left off the Olympic teams, THAT was a snub.”

Parker played in both the 2008 and 2012 Olympics but was not picked for the 2016 squad in Brazil.

Ogwumike, the 2016 WNBA MVP, was shockingly left off the 2020 gold medal-winning team’s roster after she averaged 13.7 points and 6.0 rebounds in the 2020 FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

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While Hill wasn’t perturbed with the Clark decision, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy was not shy about sharing his discontent with the move.

“How dumb are these people?” Portnoy wrote on X on Saturday. “Never complain about women salaries ever again. Make that team fly commercial. Unreal dumb.”

Clark, who dropped 30 points on a career-high seven 3-pointers on Friday night for the Indiana Fever, has averaged 16.8 points, 6.3 points and 5.3 rebounds through her first 12 WNBA games.