Clark continues to be credited with drawing viewership to the struggling WNBA
US Olympic team leaving off Caitlin Clark was a ‘missed opportunity’: Dan Dakich
OutKick host Dan Dakich discusses the U.S. Olympic women’s basketball roster as experts continue to criticize the decision to leave Caitlin Clark off the team.
The expected snub of Caitlin Clark from the U.S. Olympic women’s basketball roster for the summer games is a "missed opportunity," Dan Dakich, host of OutKick's "Don't @ Me," said Sunday.
"They could have had more eyeballs on women's basketball, which would have equated to going back to your season and finishing up even stronger, but now it's just same old, same old. No one's going to pay attention, and that's a missed opportunity, and a really dumb missed opportunity," he told co-host Will Cain on "Fox & Friends Weekend."
His comments came on the heels of a report from The Athletic saying the Indiana Fever star would be left off the final roster for the 2024 Paris summer games.
After being named to the national team’s 14-person roster for training camp in Cleveland, Ohio, in early April, she was unable to attend USA Basketball’s training camp because she was focused on playing for the Iowa Hawkeyes in the NCAA tournament.
TENNESSEAN OP-ED LIKENS CAITLIN CLARK'S POPULARITY TO ELVIS PRESLEY'S BECAUSE OF THEIR 'WHITENESS'
Caitlin Clark #22 of the Indiana Fever takes the ball out during the third quarter of a game against the New York Liberty at Barclays Center on June 02, 2024 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Luke Hales/Getty Images)
USA Basketball has yet to formally confirm the roster for this year's Olympic team, however.
WNBA STAR CAITLIN CLARK EXPECTED TO BE LEFT OFF TEAM USA'S OLYMPIC ROSTER: REPORTS
While some reports speculate the decision stems from Clark's rookie status, others like Dakich struggle to make sense of the move to leave her off the roster.
"There's no basketball player that's a bigger draw right now in the world — in the world, I would argue — than Caitlin Clark," he said.
"Let's be honest, most people didn't even know they had women's basketball in the Summer Olympics. Now you have a chance to do this, and you don't take it… "
South facade of the Palais Bourbon with the flags of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 in Paris, France, June 4, 2024. The USA Women's Basketball (RICCARDO MILANI/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)
Clark has been credited with bringing attention to the WNBA amid the league's long-term struggle with viewership.
The Washington Mystics, for instance, played against Clark's team before a crowd of 20,333 at Capital One Arena on Friday, the largest attendance for a WNBA game since 2007, according to AP, which cited data from Across the Timeline.
"All I've heard for years is, ‘We've got to grow the game, pay attention to us, love on us,' and now you have a real opportunity… " Dakich added.
The decision amassed criticism from others as well.
CAITLIN CLARK SNUBBED FROM OLYMPIC ROSTER PARTLY DUE TO POTENTIAL BACKLASH OVER PLAYING TIME: REPORT
Former U.S. men’s soccer star Alexi Lalas, who recently spoke with Fox News Digital about Clark, weighed in, saying, "I don’t know enough about USA women’s Olympic basketball to know if Caitlin Clark’s omission is a snub. I do know that, right now, she would be the only reason I would remotely care about USA women’s Olympic basketball."
Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, sounded off in a post on X, formerly Twitter: "Leaving Caitlin Clark off the women's Olympic team is the dumbest s--- I've ever heard."
OutKick contributor and "Gaines for Girls" host Riley Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer, wrote: "Caitlin Clark should be on the Women's US Olympic Basketball team. That's it. That's the tweet."
Fox News Digital's Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.
Taylor Penley is an associate editor with Fox News.
