Caitlin Clark is part of the culture wars. It’s not her fault. It’s everyone else’s.

It’s also problematic and at times dark. There were numerous right-wing social media posters, some with huge accounts, piecing together collages of photos of part of the selection committee, focusing on the photos of the Black women members. The consensus expressed by these accounts was that Clark was left off because she’s white.

Bypassing Caitlin Clark for Olympics was right for Team USA. And for Clark, too.

Part of the right-wing reaction is the subtext that Dawn Staley hates Clark which fits into the phony culture war narrative. Meanwhile, Staley said this recently about the star: “When I think about Caitlin Clark, I do think she’s one of the greatest. Like she’s the greatest of her time. She’s the greatest of her time. I want women’s basketball to grow, and I’m not too shy about saying why it grows. She’s made it grow over the past two years. I’m actually gonna go back to her freshman year when she was killing then when nobody wanted to talk about Caitlin Clark because (University of Connecticut player) Paige Bueckers was all of that, deservedly so.

“Caitlin Clark won my Dawn Staley Award her freshman year when everything was about Paige Bueckers. That’s nothing to take away from Paige Bueckers, but it’s everything to say we need to make sure we’re telling the stories of our entire game. Sometimes you have to go against the masses to really cut down and say what’s happening in real time. Caitlin Clark is the sole reason why viewership has shot through the roof for our game. Sole reason.”

Does that sound like someone who hates Clark?

One of the other things you’ll hear is about marketing and money left on the table by Team USA. But when is the last time any of these people worried about how much money could be made from merch? When is the last time any of them cared about which women players should make the Olympic team? The answer is never. Not once.