Why isn't Caitlin Clark at Team USA training camp? Fever star left off 15-player roster

A "young and turnt" USA Basketball team breezed through FIBA Women's World Cup qualifying in San Juan, Puerto Rico earlier this month.

Now, Team USA is welcoming its experienced, Olympian superstars for a training camp in sunny Phoenix, Ariz.

USA Basketball on Tuesday announced the 15 players that will take part in a three-day training camp on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week in Phoenix. Four-time WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson is the headliner among the new participants relative to the group that won all five of its games in Puerto Rico.

Fellow Olympians Napheesa Collier, Stephanie Dolson and Sabrina Ionescu will be at the camp as well, while Monique Billings, Paige Bueckers and Rae Burrell are the only holdovers from the qualifying tournament team.

However, one notable absence is that of Caitlin Clark. The Indiana Fever superstar made her Team USA debut on March 11 and was named tournament MVP in Puerto Rico -- which has led some fans to question why managing director Sue Bird has "passed up" on the chance to evaluate Clark further in Phoenix.

Clark's absence is "normal"

Clark's five games in San Juan earlier this month represented her first live game action since July 2025. She had endured an injury-plagued season in the WNBA, and her qualifying tournament exploits marked a successful return to the hardwood.

That may well have been all Bird and national team head coach Kara Lawson needed to see.

USA Today's WNBA reporter Meghan L. Hall wrote on X that Clark's omission from this week's squad is "normal."

"Players will rotate through camps so staff can evaluate," she said.

Not on this roster/camp, which is normal. Players will rotate through camps so staff can evaluate.

There is no national team controversy with Clark, and it is possible that the US staff -- which includes Fever head coach Stephanie White -- already has Clark's name highlighted in red for the trip to Germany in September, when the Americans will try to win the FIBA Women's World Cup for the fifth consecutive tournament. 

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