![\"Caitlin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/5-chicago-sky-takes-hard-995757045.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n4<\/p>\n
Clark and Reese famously clashed in the WNBA season opener earlier this yearCredit: Getty<\/p>\n
Should Clark be selected for the team, it will be her first time on a basketball court since July 15.<\/p>\n
After a historic debut campaign in the WNBA, which resulted in her winning Rookie of the Year<\/a>, Clark endured a disappointing sophomore season.<\/p>\n She played just 13 games due to several injuries<\/a>, which began in the preseason with her quads before a bone bruise on her left ankle.<\/p>\n “My ankle didn’t allow me to really see where my groin was at,” Clark said during her exit interview in October.<\/p>\n Clark will not play in any of the upcoming offseason leagues like Unrivaled or Athletes Unlimited, with her adding that her “main focus” is to get her “body healthy” for the new WNBA season starting on May 16, 2026.<\/p>\n Clark expected to compete with Team USA in March<\/p>\n With that said, Clark does want to play for Team USA in the spring. <\/p>\n The Americans play in a qualifying tournament for the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from March 11-17.<\/p>\n At the recent Annika Pro-Am in Florida last week, Clark gave reporters a positive update.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m feeling back to 100 percent,” she said when asked about her injuries.<\/p>\n Should the Fever star not suffer any setbacks, she should be on the court with her compatriots come March, barring any selection surprises.\u00a0<\/p>\n Angel Reese could be named in Team USA squad<\/p>\n A Clark inclusion on the squad could also see her team up with fellow WNBA star Angel Reese, should the Chicago Sky forward also be selected.<\/p>\n 4<\/p>\n Caitlin Clark missed most of the WNBA campaign this year due to injuryCredit: GETTY 4<\/p>\n Clark and Reese were teammates once before, when they were played on the 2024 All-StarCredit: GETTY<\/p>\n Kara Lawson, who is the new Team USA head coach, did an interview with French newspaper L’Equipe and was asked about the possible tournament debuts for the likes of Reese and Clark.<\/p>\n “They’re really bringing something new to our sport, a kind of excitement, but also fan communities that follow them everywhere they go,” Lawson said.<\/p>\n “And that’s great. We have a great generation of young, very talented players coming up, and I’m looking forward to working with them.<\/p>\n “It will be good to have them in a position to play with Team USA this time and see how they gel with everyone, since there’s already so much talent.”<\/p>\n Clark and Reese were controversially left out of the 2024 Olympic Squad<\/a>, who went on to win gold in Paris last summer.<\/p>\n It should be remembered that the FIBA World Cup comes two years before the highly anticipated LA 2028 Olympics.<\/p>\n 4<\/p>\n Clark and Reese playing for Team USA could increase viewership for FIBA’s Women’s World CupCredit: GETTYClark and Reese as teammates will open new chapter in historic rivalry<\/p>\n Clark and Reese appearing on the same team would bring unprecedented appeal to the tournament.<\/p>\n The WNBA paid were catapulted into the national spotlight when Reese’s LSU defeated Clark’s Iowa<\/a> for the national title in 2023.<\/p>\n A year later, Clark led Iowa to victory over LSU<\/a> at the Elie Eight stage of the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n The pair joined the WNBA in 2024’s draft, with Clark going No.1 overall to the Indiana Fever while Reese went No.7 to the Chicago Sky.<\/p>\n They then played on the same team as All-Star teammates in July, 2024.<\/p>\n However, their relationship, if one existed<\/a>, seemingly went sour when Clark committed a flagrant foul on Reese last season<\/a>, which prompted the latter to angrily confront her.<\/p>\n Should the pair line up together in a professional game, it would certainly be a sight to behold.<\/p>\n Stay up to date with the latest from the WNBA across all platforms – follow our dedicated\u00a0talkSPORT USA Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0and subscribe to our\u00a0talkSPORT USA YouTube channel<\/a>\u00a0for all the news, exclusives, interviews and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fans may not have to wait until the start of the new WNBA season to see the likes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[155931,155932,402,95268,1760,155928,155929,155930,150147,155924,124236,55852,143365,438,23008,155922,155921,155926,2839,150146,155927,148767,99,18419,155925,148769,155923,434,148770,143360,143359,4679,155933,143369,1765],"class_list":["post-299439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-angel-reese-fiba","tag-angel-reese-fiba-world-cup","tag-basketball","tag-basketball-news","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-caitlin-clark-angel-reese","tag-caitlin-clark-fiba","tag-caitlin-clark-fiba-world-cup","tag-caitlin-clark-golf","tag-caitlin-clark-health","tag-caitlin-clark-indiana-fever","tag-caitlin-clark-injury","tag-caitlin-clark-news","tag-chicago-sky","tag-fiba","tag-fiba-angel-reese","tag-fiba-caitlin-clark","tag-fiba-team-usa-2026","tag-indiana-fever","tag-is-caitlin-clark-playing-in-unrivaled","tag-new-wnba-season","tag-project-b","tag-sports","tag-unrivaled","tag-what-is-project-b-angel-reese-news","tag-when-does-the-wnba-start","tag-will-caitlin-clar-play-for-team-usa","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-2026","tag-wnba-cba","tag-wnba-contracts","tag-wnba-news","tag-wnba-news-indiana-fever","tag-wnba-salaries","tag-womens-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763484068_171_GettyImages-2236421641.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Caitlin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2158034098-1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Angel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2215611794.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n