WNBA Coach Slams Reporter for Weaving Caitlin Clark, Olympics Narrative

Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve fired back at Christine Brennan over Caitlin Clark's controversial Olympic snub last summer.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) celebrates after scoring a 3-pointer Tuesday, June 17, 2025, during a game between the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Indiana Fever defeated the Connecticut Sun, 88-71.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) celebrates after scoring a 3-pointer Tuesday, June 17, 2025, during a game between the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Indiana Fever defeated the Connecticut Sun, 88-71. / Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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There were many sides to the debate surrounding Caitlin Clark's controversial snub from Team USA's roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics last summer. Christine Brennan, author of the to-be-released book, On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports, is telling one of them. Now, Minnesota Lynx and Team USA coach Cheryl Reeve is telling hers.

In the snub heard 'round the league, Clark was left off the roster for the U.S. Olympic women's basketball team in June 2024 despite her booming popularity in her rookie WNBA season.

Brennan claimed Reeve played a role in that roster decision, bringing up one of Reeve's now-deleted tweets as proof the Team USA coach may have had a bias against the Indiana Fever star.

"Just stunningly bad behavior by Cheryl Reeve, tweeting at and about Caitlin Clark, kind of blaming her for not having her Minnesota Lynx games on TV, but only Caitlin games on TV," Brennan told ESPN Radio's Adam Gold (around the 15:25 mark in the video). "How on earth is that okay with the Olympic and Paralympic Committee and USA basketball, that its coach is actively tweeting and going on social media about someone who is in the selection pool?"

Reeve issued an emphatic response last week in which she claimed Brennan's narrative about her alleged involvement in Clark's snub is "fiction."

"What [Brennan] wrote is fiction. And if she were paying attention, one of the things I have done for years is hold the league accountable for their missteps, mishaps, their lack of representation of all teams," Reeve said on FanDuel's Golic & Golic show.

"So that particular situation had nothing to do with Caitlin Clark," Reeve said, explaining her tweet. "It had everything to do with a WNBA social media post that promoted one preseason game and not all preseason games. And so I simply said that, by the way, the Minnesota Lynx are playing the Chicago Sky.

"If Christine Brennan were being thorough and a legitimate reporter in this situation, she would have gotten full context. But it didn't fit the narrative. Christine Brennan likes to have a villain in her storytelling. I am Christine Brennan's villain, that's the sword she's going to die on."

Brennan's new book set to be released in July. The Lynx coach made clear she thinks the author is weaving a narrative about Clark's Olympics snub that works in her best interest.

Come the 2028 L.A. Games, one can only hope that there's much less controversy and instead more positive storylines surrounding Clark and the continued growth of women's basketball.


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Kristen Wong
KRISTEN WONG

Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL Network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. Outside of work, she has dreams of running her own sporty dive bar.