WNBA Legend Lisa Leslie Calls Out Team USA for Olympics Mistake
USA Basketball left some talented WNBA players off their Paris Olympics roster, including Caitlin Clark and Arike Ogunbowale
The USA Basketball Women’s Olympic roster is loaded with WNBA talent. Headlined by A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, Team USA projects to again go undefeated en route to another gold medal.
With a 56-game Olympic winning streak, the USA Basketball Women’s team should have little issue remaining perfect in Paris. That said, there has still been much debate about their decision to leave certain players off the roster, most notably Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale.
On a recent episode of The Gold Standard podcast, WNBA legend Lisa Leslie was asked who Team USA should call if they needed a replacement, and she said, “They should definitely call Caitlin Clark; they should call Angel Reese… and Arike Ogunbowale; I don’t know how they left the country without her.”
Calling out Team USA’s decision to not bring the WNBA’s third-leading scorer to Paris, Leslie made her feelings on that development very clear. A six-year WNBA veteran, Ogunbowale is currently third in the league in scoring, averaging 22.3 points per game.
Ogunbowale, who was named the All-Star Game MVP, helped lead Team WNBA to a win over Team USA in a performance many felt was a statement game after being left off the roster.
Clark and Ogunbowale are two of four WNBA players this season who are averaging at least 17 points per game and five assists per game (a minimum of 10 games played). The other two players on this list are New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu and Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young.
Both Young and lonescu are with Team USA in Paris.
Oct. 11, 2023; Las Vegas, NV; New York Liberty guard Sabrina lonescu (20) dribbles past Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young (0) in the first half of the 2023 WNBA Finals Game 2 at Michelob Ultra Arena.
© Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports
As an All-Star in each of the last four seasons, Ogunbowale now has two All-Star Game MVP awards to go with her two All-WNBA team selections. These accomplishments help explain why Leslie feels Team USA made a mistake by leaving Ogunbowale off the roster.
A former USA Basketball star herself, Leslie holds the USA Basketball Women’s single-game scoring record with her 35-point performance vs. Japan in 1996.
Beyond qualified to discuss women’s basketball, Leslie is one of the WNBA’s greatest players ever, making eight All-Star teams and winning three MVP awards in her 12 seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks. Leslie was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.
