Caitlin Clark’s Take on Team USA Coach Kara Lawson Is Raising Eyebrows
In September of 2025, news broke that Duke women's basketball head coach Kara Lawson had been named the Team USA women's basketball head coach and would be leading the team through at least the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
This seemed like a smart choice from Managing Director Sue Bird, whose job it was to decide on who Team USA's next head coach will be after Cheryl Reeve. Lawson was an assistant coach under Reeve at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and therefore has a clear idea of what it takes to lead America's team to glory on the world's biggest stage.
However, this decision did not come without scrutiny, especially after Lawson's Duke team got off to a tough start to the 2025-26 season. After Lawson's Blue Devils squad lost to the unranked West Virginia Mountaineers on November 15 (thus bringing Duke's record to 2-2), Lawson was blasted by women's basketball fans for being unqualified for the Team USA job.
Duke has rebounded to the point where they're ranked No. 17 in the country and have a respectable 16-6 record. Still, some doubt whether Lawson is the right person to lead a Team USA squad that will likely include massive names like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers at the next Olympic Games.
Caitlin Clark Speaks About Kara Lawson in Recent Video
On February 4, USA Basketball's YouTube account posted a video showing behind-the-scenes footage of the Women's Senior National Team training camp in Durham, North Carolina, in December.
Caitlin Clark is interviewed in the video, and she spoke about Lawson's impact on practices at one point.
"Not many of us really even knew what to expect. Everybody brought that competitive spirit. I think when coach Kara does it, her passion, and her energy, and her competitive spirit that impacts all of us," Clark said of Lawson.
While this isn't a ton to go on, it's still interesting to hear Clark speaking about her future head coach in this way.
At another point in the video, Clark said, "For a lot of us, this is our first National Team camp. And you play FIBA, but when you get to the National Team level, it's obviously different. Going back and watching that [2024 Olympic] Gold Medal game, and watching how physical that was, that's what it's gonna take to be able to win.
"The film never lies to you. And so being able to see it, and then getting on the court and being like, 'Let's do it', I think everybody was pretty motivated and excited," she added.
It will be fun to see how this Team USA squad continues to develop under Lawson's leadership.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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