Mike Wilbon on Caitlin Clark: 'She doesn't belong on the Olympic Team'

Mike Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser have differing opinions on Caitlin Clark not making Team USA for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

The former Iowa star and standout rookie for the Indiana Fever caused another media stir, unintentionally, after she was left off the Olympic roster. From a pure competition standpoint, Wilbon said Clark shouldn’t have been considered for the roster.

He explained on Monday’s edition of Pardon The Interruption.

“Let’s get something straight, she doesn’t belong on the Olympic team. She hasn’t deserved to be on the Olympic team,” Wilbon said. “She is not as good as 20 American women who can be on their team, probably 25. And I’m tired of people including my dear friends Christine Brennan and Stephen A. Smith, saying ‘well she can grow the game.’ The point is not to grow the game. The point is to win the games. We play to win the games. 

“The Olympic team is about who deserves to be there. She does not deserve to be there. She’s handled it beautifully. She can go in the future, she will earn the right to go to the Olympics probably in four years. Now, she’s not close to deserving.”

Kornheiser, in a competition sense, agreed on Clark. However, he would’ve put her on the team for the summer.

“I have a completely different opinion and my opinion is a marketing opinion,” Kornheiser said. “Because as you know, I believe the Olympics is a television show. And I believe that Caitlin Clark is the greatest attraction of any female athlete in the world. If not any sports person in the world. If I was NBC, I’d be livid that she wasn’t on the team because she’s gonna guarantee me great ratings. 

“Do I think she deserves it? No, no, no, I’m agreeing with you on that, but I think we’re going to win anyway. I don’t think her being on the team is going to stop us from winning and you know what I would do Mike? I would make her the college player on the team in the way that Christian Laettner was on the original Dream Team. That’s what I would do because I think it’s marketing.

As Wilbon doubled down, Clark not being on the team is about competition. 

“If you take that approach it’s defensible,” Wilbon said. “I take the opposite. This is about competition. This is the Olympics. Gold medal. Not marketing.”