The news of her exclusion from the Team USA roster for the Paris Olympics continues to spark discussion and now not just in the USA.
Caitlin Clark has been asked if she would consider the possibility of playing for another national team, specifically the Italian one. The Indiana Fever star does indeed have Italian heritage through her mother, but for now, according to Sky Sports Italy she does not seem inclined to make such a sensational decision.
When it comes to Caitlin Clark, even the most trivial and harmless statement ends up making headlines. This is especially true if it involves one of the many controversies surrounding her rookie year in the WNBA.
The most prominent of these remains her exclusion from the Team USA roster for the Paris Olympics, a bitter pill that Clark has struggled to swallow and which continues to cause to disturb her days later.
Many, including Clark herself, found the exclusion senseless. During a press conference before a game between her Fever and the Atlanta Dream, which Clark’s team won 91-79, a reporter suggested an alternative that many found shocking.
Caitlin in blue: an (almost) impossible dream for Italy
After she was left at home in USA, one reporter brought up her exclusion from Team USA: “If you’re interested, to take number 22 [the number Clark wears in college and the WNBA] and play with the Italian national team?.”
Clark’s response, with a smile, was quick but evasive: “I have Italian roots, I don’t know, but I appreciate the suggestion.” Indeed, Anne Nizzi, Clark’s mother, though born in the United States, comes from a family that emigrated from Sicily.
Bureaucratically, there could be a possibility, but it’s highly unlikely that Clark, despite her disappointment over not being selected for Paris, would give up the opportunity to play for Team USA. However, dreaming costs nothing, and Clark in blue would be a true dream.
