Stephen A. Smith calls out Team USA selection committee for snubbing Caitlin Clark amidst worst Olympics attendance

Caitlin Clark was snubbed from Team USA's roster in this Olympics.

Stephen A. Smith calls out Team USA selection committee for snubbing Caitlin Clark amidst worst Olympics attendance

Stephen A. Smith calls out Team USA selection committee for snubbing Caitlin Clark amidst worst Paris Olympics 2024 attendance (image via Open Source/X)

Team USA women’s basketball dominated their opening game at the Paris Olympics 2024. They beat Japan by a margin of 26 points to continue their dominance in the sport. But not many people showed up to watch them play. Instead, other games had more attendance. Keeping this in mind Stephen A. Smith brought up Caitlin Clark and her snub again.

The longtime analyst took to his show, The Stephen A. Smith Show, to talk about the attendance numbers of Team USA’s game against Japan. He had this to say about the low attendance:

For a Team USA's game, ripe with stars, expected to blow out their competition, they drew the worst crowd. Didn't I tell y'all. How does it feel Team USA? That's why you should have Caitlin Clark, and Angel Reese. Because they are a draw. Marketing matters. That's embarrassing. Ain't the player's fault. The committee who selected that roster, it's your fault.
Stephen A. Smith on The Stephen A. Smith Show

Stephen A. Smith pulled all the stops in this rant. As it was evidently clear that Team USA with their superstars did not draw fans to watch them play at the Paris Olympics 2024.

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Smith’s logic was based on the statistics from the official Olympics website. This showed that in Team USA’s win over Japan, only 13040 fans turned up. Comparatively, Spain vs. China drew more than double those numbers in the same arena. Smith was adamant that Team USA was strong enough to win the gold medal. Therefore, for the growth of the game, they could have taken Caitlin Clark along.

Maybe include Angel Reese as well. Those two are box office and would have elevated the WNBA fanbase to an unprecedented level. Something that would have helped build the brand of other players. But now it seems it was a missed opportunity.

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Caitlin Clark and Indiana Fever set playoff goal

The rookie phenom is back training with the Indiana Fever. That is after a little more than a week off on vacation, to rest her tired body. Now with renewed focus, she and her Indiana Fever teammates are focused on one goal. Head coach Christie Sides made it all clear through the Fever official X account:

Making the playoffs is our goal. We're sitting in a playoff position right now. We want to be a playoff team this year.
Christie Sides after Fever’s first practice after the break

That goal was not the same when they went 1-8 to start the season. However, now they are primed to achieve that.

The Fever ended their season at the midway point with 10 wins out of 17 games. They could have won a few more close games. Moreover, now Christie Sides has managed to drill the team to win games on a regular basis. Which is why, the playoffs are not far off.

All they have to do is finish in their current spot. With only 13 games remaining, and no back-to-back games, Caitlin Clark and her teammates can focus on playing better as a team. All these practices should surely help them cement that goal.

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