With the 2024 Olympics set to begin later this month, the status of one of Team USA’s biggest star women’s basketball players may be in jeopardy.
A leg injury has sidelined six-time Olympian Diana Taurasi from the last three of the Phoenix Mercury’s last four games, and she will miss Friday’s clash against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.
The 42-year-old has maintained her steady production in 2024, averaging 16.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.
It’s unclear whether the injury will impact Taurasi’s status for the Olympics, but should she be unable to head to Paris, that could open the door for Clark, who was not selected for the primary roster but named an alternate.
Clark’s snub was a polarizing one, including in the eyes of high-ranking Olympic officials.
Casey Wasserman, president of the 2028 Olympic Organizing Committee in Los Angeles, said that Clark being left off was a “missed opportunity because she clearly is generational talent at a time when the world was ready for it.”
Taurasi herself addressed Clark’s exclusion, citing a learning curve at a higher level.
“The game of basketball is all about evolving,” Taurasi said. “It’s all about getting comfortable with your surroundings. College basketball is much different than the WNBA than it is overseas.”
The American women’s hoops icon had also been critical of Clark during the pre-draft process, saying that “reality is coming” for Clark and other 2024 rookies who were facing “grown women that have been playing professional basketball for a long time.”
However, Taurasi employed a different tone following the Mercury’s 88-82 loss to the Fever on June 30.
“It’s amazing what Caitlin’s been able to do in her short career so far,” Taurasi said. “It’s been nothing short of remarkable. … What she’s done for the game has been pretty incredible and [having] that momentum coming out of college, eyes on you for four years straight.”
During her first year in the WNBA, Clark has averaged 16.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 7.6 assists per game, being named an All-Star and recently posting the first rookie triple-double in league history.
With or without Taurasi, Team USA unofficially kicks off its summer quest for gold on July 20, when it battles the WNBA All-Stars in Phoenix.
Olympic competition is set to begin on July 29 against Japan in Lille, France.