Caitlin Clark, who is currently the world’s most famous women’s professional basketball player, will not be on the team representing her country in basketball in Paris for the 2024 Olympics. And Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy is not happy about it, calling the move “the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
So, Dave Portnoy will not be watching this summer’s Olympic basketball competition.
“Leaving Caitlin Clark off the women’s Olympic team is the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard,” he said.
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“I’d rather watch grass grow, I’d rather watch paint dry. I’d rather watch dirt just be moved around because Caitlin Clark is not on the team,” added Portnoy. “If she’s there, its appointment TV. You people, whoever did this, take your brain, put it in a museum and study it for how dumb you are.”
Dave Portnoy also made and issue about feminism in a video he released on Facebook about the matter.
“These women [referring to whoever made the decision to leave Caitlin Clark off of the team], and I love women, they complain and they cry about equal rights, equal wages, blah blah blah… you have is the most talked about discussed… single basketball player in the world, and u leave her off the Olympic team. It’s not only a showcase for her, but for the sport and the other WNBA players.”
Caitlin Clark plays for the Indiana Fever of the WNBA. She holds the NCAA (America’s college sports organization) Division I all-time scoring record and was a two-time national player of the year.
So why was she left off of Team USA 2024 for the Paris Olympics?
According to a report made by USA Today columnist Christine Brennan, the reason might have to do with the fact that the US women’s national basketball team was concerned about how Caitlin Clark’s fans would react to her not getting so much playing time in this summer’s Paris Olympic games.
ESPN explained that rosters across all sports for the Paris Games were due to the U.S. Olympic Committee by June 7 unless a sport’s trials are held after that date or a sport’s governing body requested an extension, which USA Basketball did, a source told ESPN. Technically, that gave the selection committee a little more time to monitor the start of the WNBA season if needed.
Caitlin Clark could be an alternate; however, ESPN also explained that USA Basketball generally has not publicly announced Olympic alternates. The projected roster and list of potential alternates must be submitted to FIBA, basketball’s world governing body, by approximately June 24.
For her part, Caitlin Clark has yet to comment on the matter.