The U.S. girls’s nationwide basketball crew has been a scorching matter over the previous a number of days after information surfaced that WNBA rookie Caitlin Clark wouldn’t be on the 2024 Olympic roster.
Diana Taurasi, Kahleah Copper, A’Ja Wilson, Chelsea Grey, Breanna Stewart, Brittney Griner, Alyssa Thomas, Napheesa Collier, Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Younger and Sabrina Ionescu make up the ultimate 12-woman roster.
Whereas Clark’s omission sparked quite a few debates, she was not the one participant arguably snubbed. Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale, just lately revealed she determined to take away herself from the Group USA pool of gamers forward of the upcoming Olympic Video games in Paris.
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Arike Ogunbowale of the Dallas Wings throughout a recreation in opposition to the Chicago Sky Might 18, 2024, on the School Park Heart in Arlington, Texas. (Michael Gonzales/NBAE through Getty Photos)
Throughout an look on the “Nightcap” podcast, Ogunbowale expressed her perception the choice committee was not fascinated with choosing her as a consequence of her obvious lack of total match with the crew.
“In terms of [the Olympic trials], it actually would not have a lot to do along with your recreation,” the three-time WNBA All-Star advised “Nightcap” co-hosts Shannon Sharpe and Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson.
NBA LEGEND JULIUS ERVING SUPPORTS CAITLIN CLARK BEING LEFT OFF OLYMPICS ROSTER: ‘SLOW YOUR ROLL’
“It is actually about who they really feel like suits with the crew. So, I truly took my identify out the pool months in the past. That is not saying I did not suppose perhaps final 12 months I’d be on the crew, and I used to be adequate to make the crew. However when the checklist got here out, I knew I’d not be that one.”
Arike Ogunbowale (24) of the Dallas Wings handles the ball in opposition to the Indiana Fever throughout a WNBA preseason recreation Might 3, 2024, on the School Park Heart in Arlington, Texas. (Cooper Neill/NBAE through Getty Photos)
Ogunbowale entered Saturday’s recreation in opposition to the Connecticut Solar because the second main scorer within the WNBA, trailing Las Vegas Aces star and two-time league MVP A’ja Wilson.
Ogunbowale additionally leads the WNBA in steals.
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She added that “politics has at all times surrounded” girls’s basketball and instructed the choice standards is inherently subjective.
“All people’s nice within the WNBA, so who they select is who they select,” she mentioned.
“Whether or not that is USA Basketball, whether or not that is All-Star groups, whether or not that is first crew and stuff like that, there’s politics,” Ogunbowale mentioned. “Even with the boys’s [basketball teams]. There’s politics in all the things, so I am gonna simply depart it at that.”
Arike Ogunbowale of the Dallas Wings drives to the basket throughout a recreation in opposition to the Phoenix Mercury Might 25, 2024, at Footprint Heart in Phoenix, Ariz. (Kate Frese/NBAE through Getty Photos)
Ogunbowale or Clark might be named as a alternative for Grey. The Aces star has but to seem in a recreation this season as a consequence of damage.
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Ogunbowale earned All-WNBA honors in 2021 and 2022. She was the league’s scoring champion in 2020.
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