US team
Hey, isn’t Caitlin Clark on this team?
Yes. And we can definitively declare that her play has been … fine?
She’s averaging 20.6 minutes per game, third behind Jackie Young and Breanna Stewart, but she’s averaging just 7 points. The percentages are gruesome – 29.4% from the field, 22.7% from 3-point range and just two of three from the free throw line.
Now the good news: She leads the team in plus/minus (22), she’s the runaway leader in assists (5.8 per game), and she’s doing that with far fewer turnovers (1.2 per game) than she typical puts up in WNBA play.
Late in the game, though, the team has looked elsewhere. Kahleah Copper replaced Clark with 5:33 left in the semifinal, though Spain never got closer than eight points after that. Against Italy, with the game very much in doubt, Clark sat for the last 7:05. (Going 0-for-6 from the field didn’t help her case for playing time.)
So who IS getting it done for the US team?
Basically, everyone.
If you’re voting today, the MVP is Stewart. She leads the team with 6.8 rebounds per game and is barely behind Young (11.2 to 11.0) in points. Stewart and Young are two of just five players who were on the 2024 Olympic roster, align with ever-reliable point guard Chelsea Gray and two veteran glue players in Napheesa Collier and Kahleah Copper. All five are contributing, unlike the 2024 Olympics, when Diana Taurasi was basically a passenger taking a career victory lap.
The least-used players this year are two newcomers, the Washington Mystics duo of Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen, both of whom are contributing and gaining experience. Rhyne Howard is a newbie with asterisk, having won Olympic bronze in 3×3 basketball. Then the team has what may be a golden generation in the making – Clark, Angel Reese, Aliyah Boston and Paige Bueckers.
On TNT’s coverage, the studio crew and several players mused aloud about who would take a last-second shot for the team. The slim consensus went to Stewart, closely followed by Gray. But the panels agree – it could be anyone on the roster.