USA World Cup Broadcast Curiously Credits ‘Old Heads’ Before Caitlin Clark

The USA women's basketball team produced an impressive win against China in their first group-stage match of the FIBA World Cup on Friday morning.

While many players on Team USA's roster performed well, the biggest standouts were Caitlin Clark (who tied for a team-high 14 points while also adding 11 assists without a turnover) and Paige Bueckers, who also had 14 points on an efficient six-of-nine shooting from the field.

Of course, Clark and Bueckers are a key part of USA Basketball's youth movement, as this Team USA World Cup roster is essentially comprised of half veterans and former gold medalists and half younger players who are making their senior national team debuts.

Yet, the TNT Sports' broadcast (including WNBA legend Tina Charles) were more keen to praise Team USA's veterans after Friday's game.

"I can't say there's just one player. Again, like USA's strength is their depth. But you have to give credit to the five Olympic gold medalists who really set the tone from the jump," Charles said.

After highlighting what these five gold medalists did on the court, Charles added, "That's what you need your young crew on the bench to see, to say, 'All right, I need to go out and do the same thing, and maximize my minutes.' And that's exactly what they were able to do."

Renee Montgomery (who has caught the ire of Caitlin Clark fans for some past comments) later added, "You talked about that young crew, though. I think as a unit, to [Charles'] point, I think really played well together... But to that point, you set the tone with the vets that came in."

"THE OLD HEADS SET THE TONE" https://t.co/J3KZ4c0gNd pic.twitter.com/EyVGQHQYDu
— Ashwin (@Sudharsan_ak) September 4, 2026

Why Tina Charles' 'Old Heads' Praise Misses the Mark

There's nothing wrong with Charles giving Team USA's veterans and gold medal winners credit after the win against China. And it isn't necessarily surprising to hear her doing so, if only because she's a part of this same generation of veteran players (Charles retired days before the 2026 WNBA season).

But her asserting that it was the old heads who "really set the tone from the jump" is inaccurate, and anybody who watched the game should have seen that.

Rather, the USA really picked up steam when Clark, Bueckers, and Angel Reese came off the bench and when they were running the offense in the second half.

Montgomery did give the younger Team USA players their due shine. But Charles' comments are raising eyebrows for a reason, and are detracting from the great debut World Cup performances that many of the young heads produced.

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