Indiana Fever star rookie Caitlin Clark is off to a torrid start in her first season as a professional, scoring 17.1 points per game while averaging 8.2 assists and 5.8 rebounds on 40.5% shooting from the floor and 32.7% from three.
Clark’s impressive play in the first half of the WNBA season for the 11-15 Fever earned her an All-Star selection in her first year in the league.
However, her play did not earn her a spot in the Paris Olympics for Team USA, who opens group play against Japan on July 29.
In fairness to Team USA, the final roster was completed very early in the WNBA season as Clark was still finding her footing as a professional.
With Clark left off the United States Olympic team (for likely the only time in her basketball career), she has some time to kill between her last game before the WNBA All-Star break, a 101-93 loss to the Dallas Wings on July 17 to the Fever’s next scheduled game on August 16 at home against the Phoenix Mercury.
Team USA, of course, is comprised of over a dozen WNBA stars, so the league has gone on an extended Olympic break until basketball is completed in Paris.
Clark will go nearly a month without playing a game for the Fever, which is an unorthodox period of rest in her first season as a professional.