When Caitlin Clark came off the bench in Team USA’s 2026 FIBA World Cup, social media blasted Kara Lawson for her decision. The critics cried to the top of their lungs when the Americans nearly lost the game to Italy two days later. Since then, Team USA has silenced its doubters. According to former Iowa star and Spanish team player Megan DiLeo (formerly Megan Gustafson), whether Clark starts or not, doesn’t even matter.
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“I mean, I think she’s just a great player. It doesn’t really matter when she goes into the game. She’s going to make a good impact. We’ve just got to be ready for her and for the rest of the roster,” DiLeo told Jackson Thompson of Outkick after Spain’s win over Australia in the quarterfinal of the World Cup.
Clark and Team USA had booked their place in the semifinal after crushing Hungary by 52 points in the quarterfinal. Now the Americans and Spanish team are set to meet each other to fight for their claim in the gold medal game.
“They’re talented. They’re deep. It doesn’t really matter who comes in. We have to be at our top defensively and offensively. To be honest, we want to focus on ourselves first and focus on what we need to do in order to win and to sustain runs.”
Clark has come off the bench in all of the US’s four games so far. However, her numbers are those of a starter. She has by far played the most minutes (21.5) on the US team, and she leads her team in assists (7). Clark is also sixth in points scored and tops the plus/minus chart (+23) by a massive gap.
One of the reasons Lawson received backlash was because of what Caitlin Clark has done through the 2026 WNBA season. She is one of the top three frontrunners for the MVP award and leads the league in assists.
A section of fans asked: if the Indiana Fever star can lead the best offensive team in the league as their decision-maker, why couldn’t Kara Lawson trust her with the same responsibility?
While Lawson makes any changes to her veteran starting lineup remains to be seen, Spain is going to one of Team USA’s biggest upsets because of how they’ve played in the tournament so far.
Spain is playing in the FIBA World Cup after missing qualification in 2022, and has made it to the semis with just one defeat along the way, which in itself was a surprising 82-73 upset loss against Mali.
Following that defeat, the World No. 6 European side has only improved, beating Japan 79-69 and then beating World No. 3 Australia in the quarterfinals. DeLio revealed their team’s confident mentality after the win over Australia, a team with 10 WNBA players.
“We have WNBA players. We have players who have played in the EuroLeague… We have players who are very talented, no matter where they’ve played.”
Counting both present and former WNBA talents, Spain has seven players on the roster with experience in the American league. While Team USA does have depth, after their record-setting 52-point margin of victory against Hungary, it’s not like the team doesn’t have any weaknesses.
Italy, who narrowly lost to Australia in the quarterfinals qualification game, put on a defensive masterclass against USA. Despite losing the game by three points, they held Team USA to a historic low production of 55 points, which was the worst USA points total in 42 years. Clark scored only one point and had four rebounds against them.
DiLeo and Caitlin Clark never played together in Iowa. The former left in 2019 and was drafted 17th overall by the Dallas Wings. However, they share a very cordial relationship and have their jerseys retired by the Hawkeyes. DiLeo played a role in convincing Clark to join Iowa in 2020, and now the two will face one another in a game that will make or break their 2026 FIBA World Cup campaign.