Dallas Wings star guard Arike Ogunbowale revealed this week she took herself out of the USA Basketball pool for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Ogunbowale said that she believed the selection committee did not want her on the team. Her remarks came while appearing on the show “Nightcap” with Shannon Sharpe, Gilbert Arenas and Chad “OchoCinco” Johnson.
“When it comes to [the Olympic trials], it really doesn’t have much to do with your game,” Ogunbowale said. “It’s really about who they feel like fits with the team. So I actually took my name out the pool months ago. That’s not saying I didn’t think maybe last year, I would be on the team and I was good enough to make the team, but when the list came out, I knew I would not be that one.”
She added that the criteria for choosing who makes Team USA is “subjective.”
“Everybody’s great in the WNBA, so who they choose is who they choose,” she said.
When asked by Johnson to expand on whether politics plays a role in the committee’s decision-making process, Ogunbowale affirmed that statement, and added politics has always surrounded USA Basketball, whether it was in college or the professional leagues.
“Whether that’s USA Basketball, whether that’s All-Star teams, whether that’s first team, and stuff like that, there’s politics,” Ogunbowale said. “Even with the men’s [basketball teams]. There’s politics in everything, so I’m gonna just leave it at that.”
Ogunbowale’s comments come after she and Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark were initially left off of this year’s Olympic roster for USA Basketball, with many believing the two were snubbed from making first-time appearances.
The fifth pick in the 2019 Draft, Ogunbowale has been a three-time All-Star and was previously named to the All-WNBA First Team in 2021 and second team in 2022. In 11 games for the Wings this season, she has averaged 26.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game while shooting 36.5% from the field, 32.3% from three and 93% from the free-throw line. In the Wings’ 92-84 loss to the Seattle Storm on Thursday, Ogunbowale led Dallas with 24 points, six rebounds, and five assists.
