Let’s start with two truths about the Caitlin Clark-Paris Olympic Games roster drama. With or without Clark on the 12-woman team, the United States will win the gold medal. Clark was going to handle the news with grace and diplomacy because she deeply understands the stakes and her audiences. But what does USA Basketball understand? The sport’s national governing body was in a very tough position — having to answer to multiple stakeholders at a time of unprecedented growth, mostly driven by Clark, college basketball’s all-time leading scorer and the WNBA’s No. 1 draft pick. By leaving Clark off the roster, someone (or many someones) was going to be angry. But I fear they awakened the wrong monster. I’ve been in several boardrooms in my career, so let’s play a game and say that I was in the room where this fateful decision happened.

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