While fans wished Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark was competing with Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the 22-year-old phenom was able to take her first vacation in over a year after being omitted from the roster.
Following Clark’s dominant performance in the WNBA All-Star game on July 20, during which she broke rookie record for assists (10), she and her boyfriend, Connor McCaffery, took a trip to Cabo, Mexico.
Shortly after the Fever players returned to Indianapolis for practice, McCaffery, who recently wrapped up his first year as an assistant for the Indiana Pacers, shared a rare photo of the couple enjoying their time off.
While Clark dreams of one day playing for the women’s national basketball team in the Olympics, she was thrilled to get some much-needed rest.
However, Dawn Staley, who helped select the roster for Team USA, revealed on July 28 that if the decision was made later in the season, Clark likely would’ve been included.
In July, the NCAA’s all-time scorer became the first rookie to ever score a triple-double in the WNBA, and broke the league record for most assists in a single game (19). Team USA, however, announced their 12-player roster in June.
“As a committee member, you’re charged with putting together the best team of players, the best talent,” Staley told NBC. “Caitlin is just a rookie in the WNBA — wasn’t playing bad, but wasn’t playing like she’s playing now. If we had to do it all over again, the way that she’s playing, she would be in really high consideration of making the team because she is playing head and shoulders above a lot of people.”
“Shooting the ball extremely well, I mean she is an elite passer, she’s just got a great basketball IQ and she’s a little more seasoned in the pro game in a couple of months than she was two months ago.”
Clark entered the Olympic break averaging 17.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, a league-leading 8.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. The Fever’s next game is against the Phoenix Mercury on August 16.
