Team USA successfully clinched its fifth straight FIBA World Cup gold medal, finishing the tournament in Germany with a perfect 6-0 record. Yet throughout that dominant run, one question continued to follow the Americans: Why wasn’t Caitlin Clark starting?
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The decision became one of the most discussed aspects of Team USA’s campaign, particularly with Clark making her senior national team debut. While the Indiana Fever guard still played a meaningful role in the Americans’ run, as the players returned home, Sophie Cunningham has offered her own take on Clark’s exclusion from the starting five.
“Just be happy that USA went in there and got it done, and they got the gold, and now they’re back here,” the 30-year-old said on Thursday’s episode of her “No Hesitation” podcast. “But I think anyone can make an argument like – Yes, I’m biased, probably because I love her and she’s my teammate. But I definitely think that C should have been starting, but again, like, I’m not the coach. I don’t know what they have going on. We got the dub. That’s all that matters. We got the gold. Now they’re back.”
Cunningham made her stance clear after co-host Drew Hanlen highlighted how not all fans were happy about Clark’s relatively reduced role on the national team despite them winning the World Cup.
“It’s four more games in playoffs. But you’re never going to win with this crowd,” Cunningham added. “I’m telling you. You’re going to get hated. You’re going to get loved on. So that’s why you just kind of do what you want around here.”
Team USA head coach Lawson opted for a veteran-heavy starting lineup throughout the tournament. It consisted of Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, Kahleah Copper, Napheesa Collier, and Breanna Stewart, leaving younger stars such as Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers on the bench.
Clark entered the tournament as one of the WNBA’s top three scorers and the league’s leading playmaker, averaging a league-best 8.4 assists per game. And with that production behind her, expectations were high for Clark to start, and Lawson faced plenty of criticism for keeping her on the bench.
However, while the tournament was still underway, Lawson made it clear that she was satisfied with what her veteran starters were bringing to the floor.
“I think that our starting group has done a really good job of getting us off to good starts,” Lawson said when asked whether she was considering Clark for a starting spot in the quarterfinal against Hungary. “You know, rotationally from game to game we could change things, but I like where we are right now.”
Still, the 24-year-old found her way to contribute without a starting role. Caitlin Clark averaged 7.8 points, 5.3 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 0.7 steals in 19.3 minutes per game, while shooting 35.9% from the field and 28.0% from three-point range.
So while her role remained a major talking point throughout the tournament, the experience itself carried plenty of significance for Clark. For the Fever guard, making her senior national team debut was a moment she had envisioned since she was a teenager.
“The World Cup is a huge deal,” Caitlin Clark said in her conversation with reporters ahead of the Fever’s matchup with the Toronto Tempo on Friday. “So, it meant a lot. Obviously, I played in the World Cup qualifier, but getting to play the World Cup on that stage, there’s really nothing like it. And obviously, my goal is the Olympics in 28.”
Clark shed more light on her journey from the under-16 level to the senior team, adding,
“When I was 15 years old playing my first time at U16 USA basketball, they talk about how maybe only a couple of us will ever get to make our senior national team debut. And there’s 120 kids sitting in the room trying out to make the U16 team. And now to be one of those, it’s kind of a pinch me moment,” she further added.
With her first senior national team experience now behind her, Caitlin Clark can turn her attention back to the Fever. As the WNBA regular season resumes, the 24-year-old will look to carry that momentum into the final four-game stretch before the playoffs and help Indiana make a deeper push toward the championship.