Before even starting, the Olympics basketball garnered a lot of attention not because of the team but because of who was excluded from it. Caitlin Clark’s snub has come as a shocker for many enthusiasts. Now a celebrated journalist has come forward to support Clark and expounded why this might be a heavy thing for USA basketball. Her words were very similar to those of Stephen A. Smith’s.

Reputed journalist Christine Brennan was present during an interview on the Rich Eisen Show when she reflected on Clark’s Olympic snub. Let’s see what she had to say.

Christine Brennan warns the USA of the aftermath of Caitlin Clark’s snub

Brennan enumerated why leaving Clark was a bad decision and also presented stats to prove that despite a lot of negative comments about her online, Clark has been having a wonderful time at the WNBA. Her rationale echoed that of Smith.

“Grandma and Grandpa and the produce section who would never turn on men’s or women’s basketball are running to their TVs are… are aware of the difference between ion, and Prime, and NBA TV. And they are setting their schedules around Caitlin Clark guarantee because these numbers are there and that’s what USA Basketball has pushed away now. Congratulations! You’ve literally pushed that away those people we wish they would watch Breanna Stewart and Taurasi,” Brennan stated, via The Rich Eisen Show. 

“Caitlin would have been the conduit to that and that’s all gone now and I think history will judge this so incredibly poorly about not growing the game when the mission one of the mission statements of USA Basketball is all about growing the game,” Brennan continued. 

Clark has had quite a decent number in the WNBA. Clark has had 6.2 assists per game in the WNBA which is more than the veteran Diana Taurasi who has 1.9 assists per contest this year. Furthermore, Clark also is not much behind Taurasi in points average. Clark has had 16.1 points per game whereas Taurasi has 16.7 points per contest. Therefore, on a clear stats comparison, Clark might have deserved a place in the Olympic squad.

Furthermore, Brennan’s argument is that Clark would have brought many eyes to the sport especially since a lot of Americans are tuning in to the WNBA just to watch Clark. And that could have been the gateway to noticing other players like Breanna Stewart, Kelsey Plum, and A’ja Wilson. Notably, Clark’s game against the New York Liberty had a record $2 million revenue in ticket sales for last year’s runner-ups. Hence, there is no denying that with Clark’s exclusion, the Olympics basketball will take a little more time to reach crunching numbers. Furthermore, her take also paralleled Stephen A. Smith’s opinion. 

Brennan’s take reminds one of Smith’s Caitlin Clark argument

Smith had also previously come forward to echo more or less the same words. He had talked about the limelight Clark would have brought to the Olympic team and how other players and the game would have benefited as a whole. His take did resonate with a lot of fans but unfortunately, the USA selection committee did not think so and hence Clark was excluded.

“It was a stupid decision. Because it compromises what your ultimate goal is, which is to elevate the WNBA brand. How could you be that idiotic and not make that call, when throughout history, Team USA has been, in part, about marketing? It’s dumb, period,” Smith had opined according to Yahoo Sports.

Now that Brennan has echoed a similar sentiment to Smith, hopefully, the selection authorities will realize Clark’s importance and not keep her away from Team USA in future events.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the Reese-Clark rivalry and more, watch this video.