No Caitlin Clark? How US Olympic basketball teams are chosen.

Editor’s note: The official roster for the U.S. women’s national team was released June 11.  

What does it take to make an Olympic basketball team? The formula, it turns out, has little to do with popularity. Although the roster for the U.S. women’s team has not been officially announced, NCAA star and WNBA rookie Caitlin Clark has confirmed that she was not invited to play in Paris. She has set her sights on making the team in the future. Those who are expected to make the cut: WNBA All-Stars and MVPs – and gold medal winners, including Brittney Griner.

On the men’s side, where the lineup has been known for months, perennial NBA All-Stars and future Hall of Famers LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant have all signed on. On paper, they make the possibility of winning gold more imaginable.  

If they do win, it will be the eighth gold medal for men’s basketball in the previous 10 Olympic games. The women’s team has fared even better. They have won gold nine times, in all but two Olympic outings since they started competing in 1976.

Selection for both teams is based on a number of factors. Here’s more on what it takes to make a U.S. Olympic basketball team. 

How are the U.S. men’s and women’s Olympic basketball teams chosen? 

NBA Hall of Famer and gold-medal Olympian Grant Hill is the managing director for the men’s national team. At a media event in April, Mr. Hill said he couldn’t just choose the top two or three players at every position in the NBA – including point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, and center. More factors are in play. 

“Everyone is on this team because they provided something that is needed. Like the versatility that’s needed,” says Mr. Hill, whose choices were approved by the USA Basketball board of directors. “You’ll get a lot of different playing styles that you’ll go against, so we feel like we checked a lot of boxes,” he adds.

Mr. Hill says that when he chose the team, he took into consideration how good the players are on both sides of the ball, defense and offense. He also considered how he thought they might jell with each other, and who had been in big moments like the international stage that the Olympics will be.

“We’re grateful to have all of them,” Mr. Hill says of the 12 players who signed up to play. 

Cheryl Reeve, the Minnesota Lynx head coach, will coach the U.S. women’s team. Ms. Reeve appeared alongside reigning WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart at the spring media event and addressed team selection. Like Mr. Hill, she says versatility, playing styles, and chemistry are all considered when choosing a roster. Ms. Reeve had held a camp for prospective members at the beginning of April and had input on the players selected for the team.

“I think USA Basketball is exceptional at balancing this roster of four- or five-time Olympians and other players,” she says. “They have the ability, and I think that’s a large reason why we have been so successful.”

The selection committee consists of former Olympian and U.S. women’s coach Dawn Staley, who is now the coach at South Carolina; Dan Padover, general manager of the Women’s National Basketball Association’s Atlanta Dream; WNBA Connecticut Sun President Jennifer Rizzotti; former WNBA players Seimone Augustus and DeLisha Milton-Jones; and WNBA head of league operations, Bethany Donaphin.

Ms. Reeve, who has known for years that she would coach this year’s team, says she has been preparing for just as long.

“We have an identity,” she says. “We’re going to hit hard. We’re going to defend. We’re going to rebound. We’re going to play with pace. We’re going to hit the ground running,” she promises.

Why would someone as high-profile as Caitlin Clark not make the team? 

Ms. Clark missed the camp for prospective squad members in April because she was playing in the NCAA Final Four. This left her WNBA play as a factor for how she would fare against 11 other teams from around the world. Her short rookie season with the Indiana Fever means she is still getting the hang of the WNBA’s more physical game. She is leading the league in turnovers, but also tied a rookie record for 3-pointers in a game. All that is happening in front of sellout crowds.

Although no reason has yet been officially given, some sources told the media over the June 8 weekend that, had she been chosen, Ms. Clark’s fans might have been dismayed by seeing the rookie not get much playing time. 

Still, No. 1 WNBA draft picks have been selected for the Olympic squad before. Diana Taurasi and Candace Parker played in 2004 and 2008, respectively. Ms. Stewart also played when she was a rookie in 2016. 

Ms. Clark is not the only notable WNBA player who appears to have been left off the team. Her Fever teammate, last season’s Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston, and Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale, currently the No. 2 scorer in the WNBA, also didn’t make the cut.

OK, but who is likely to make the roster?

In addition to Ms. Griner, who is expected to represent the United States after her ordeal in a Russian prison, Ms. Taurasi is a WNBA all-time leading scorer. The deep bench of talent is likely to include 2022 WNBA Finals MVP Chelsea Gray and gold medal winner Jewell Loyd.

Ms. Stewart, a two-time Olympic champion, celebrated the fact that Team USA has always selected players who demonstrate camaraderie.

“It’s something that as an athlete, as a basketball player, you’re representing your country and it’s a different level of thought,” she says. “We’re trying to take home gold medals and everyone else is trying to beat us.”

For more of the Monitor’s Olympic coverage:
As NCAA and Olympics start paying athletes, what happens to the amateur ideal?
As Paris preps for Olympics, safety of the iconic River Seine remains in question
The Paralympics are coming to Paris. Will Paralympians be able to get around?