Kara Lawson has been stubborn about her veteran starting lineup. There have been mounting calls for including Caitlin Clark in the starting lineup instead of Chelsea Gray. Now, former college basketball player and TV host Rachel DeMita, who had previously pointed out the overreliance on veterans, reiterated her concerns on Friday after reading a fan’s comment on the topic.
“We talked about that in the last episode, the kind of divide between the youngins and the veteran. Team USA is really leaning on the veterans. Even in that close game versus Italy, they put the veterans back in the game to kind of close out the game. And to me, that made it feel like they didn’t have confidence in the young group.”
In the September 11 episode of Courtside Club, DeMita was responding to a tweet by a fan who drew a similarity between Lawson sticking to the veteran starters, which was what Larry Brown did at the 2004 Olympics with the Team USA men’s team. Despite having young LeBron James and Dwyane Wade on the roster, Brown didn’t start them because of their inexperience at the international stage.
Team USA ultimately lost their shot at the gold medal, finishing third, and the entire campaign was generally viewed as a disaster. As per a 2024 ESPN report, former coach and TV analyst Doug Collins pointed out the mistake.
“They chose LeBron James on that team, who was a young player. Carmelo Anthony, some young guys. Those guys have always played, and now you’re asking them to come and sit there?”
DeMita also cited how Lawson has shown a lack of trust in her youngsters, although a close look suggests that the youngsters have played better.
“The young group was the group that extended the lead against Italy. The vets were actually the ones who kind of gave up the lead, but they ended the game.”
The Americans played a historically bad game against Italy. But they held Italy tight and escaped with a win. Lawson went with her veterans to close the game. Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young led their team in the clutch time. However, a closer analysis shows that Team USA played better with their young stars. With Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, and Paige Bueckers on the court, the Americans were +10 plus/minus.
Former ESPN host Linda Cohn has had a similar criticism for Lawson. After a win against China, Lawson praised Clark for providing momentum and changing the tempo of the game. But Cohn slammed Lawson with her own argument.
“Why don’t you want to change the tempo from the opening tip? That’s what I don’t understand.”
Despite critics’ voices mounting against her, it doesn’t seem like Lawson is going to change her lineup anytime soon. She still believes in her veteran players, and she echoed it after a win over Hungary in the quarterfinal.
“I think that our starting group has done a really good job of getting us off to good starts,” she said when asked if she was weighing using Clark in the starting lineup in the next game.
“You know, rotationally from game to game we could change things, but I like where we are right now.”
The starting lineup featuring Breanna Stewart, Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, Kahleah Copper and Napheesa Collier combined for -15 against Italy, compared to the bench, which was +30. A similar pattern was seen on the stat sheet in the win over China as well. That doesn’t tell the whole story, but it would raise eyebrows nonetheless. Clark is +23 in plus/minus, the highest far, far on the team.
However, Lawson has also managed to strike a balance. Clark leads the team in minutes, and three of the top six players with the highest logged minutes are bench players. While Lawson has certainly shown stubbornness with her lineup choices, she hasn’t shown an overreliance on her veteran stars.