Less than 24 hours after Team USA’s men’s basketball team handed France a defeat in the finals, the women’s team did the same. They defeated the host nation by a narrow 67-66 margin on Sunday to claim their eighth consecutive gold at the Olympics. Despite these efforts and achievements, Stephen A. Smith believes, “Team USA missed an opportunity,” and he’s not apologetic for saying this.

On August 13th, Smith unveiled his perspective via his official YouTube channel. “When you talk about marketing the sport, I think Team USA missed an opportunity to elevate the profile of women’s excellence in the sport of basketball because they ignored marketing,” he said after applauding Team USA’s women for returning with their eighth consecutive gold around their necks.

For Smith, Caitlin Clark was an opportunity Team USA could have seized. Her addition to Team USA would have been a marketing boost. “Box office matters… we want to act like it doesn’t matter, but it does,” he added. For context, 4 of Team USA’s games over the past week drew an audience of less than 13,000. Meanwhile, the Indiana Fever alone recorded about 16,898 viewers per game for 11 straight since Clark’s arrival.

He even pointed out how the men’s basketball team is taking advantage of marketing opportunities. “It’s not an accident I saw Anthony Edwards with those Adidas shoes, or LeBron James with his gold-plated shoes, but I saw that. Adidas took advantage of the marketing opportunity. LeBron took advantage of the marketing opportunity. It matters,” he added. Quite evidently, Smith seems to be right. But how has Caitlin Clark’s omission from Team USA affected her?

Clark had what other hyped rookies of the WNBA missed out.

Well, it did affect her, but in a good way. In fact, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. “I honestly can’t wait to not touch a basketball for a while,” she told The Athletic after the WNBA All-Star matchup. Most of the rookies who share similar hype haven’t had the privilege of a break. But Clark made the most of the WNBA’s 24-day Olympic break, vacationing in Mexico with her teammates and attending India State Fair.

“I think relaxing and reflecting on everything that’s happened to me over the course of the last year is going to be super important because my life has moved so fast,” she added. Above all, she finally got time to relax after March 2023.

Now that it’s time to return, she might have reanalyzed her WNBA rookie season, which is extremely important in the Rookie of the Year race. Her first game after the Olympics break will be against Pheonix Mercury on 17th August. What do you think? Will she be stronger and better this time?

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.