ESPN basketball insider Brian Windhorst appeared on an August 5 episode of the Pat McAfee show.

Among the many topics that Windhorst, McAfee, and former NFL standout AJ Hawk discussed was why the Team USA men’s 3×3 basketball Paris Olympics team doesn’t include NBA superstars.

“If you want real talk about it, I’ll tell you why: Because FIBA doesn’t really want to US to do good in 3 on 3,” Windhorst said. “They really want that to be for countries that can’t field 5 on 5 teams, and so they do all these things… they have all these different layers and layers and layers and things you have to do to qualify.

“Like, Kyrie [Irving] can’t just show up and play,” Windhorst continued. “The only way you can play is if you play in like 15 qualifying events.”

The USA 3×3 men’s team was expected to compete for a medal at the Paris games. But they ended up producing a 2-5 overall record and didn’t make it past the event’s group stage.

In addition to discussing the men’s side, Windhorst went on to discuss why Caitlin Clark never would have been able to join the US women’s 3×3 team in Paris.

“Because honestly, Caitlin Clark… that was something that Caitlin Clark could have done,” Windhorst said of Clark potentially playing in the Paris Olympics’ 3×3 event.

“Can you imagine what that would have been like? But there was like 15 hoops that she would have had to jump through,” Windhorst continued. “Because FIBA doesn’t care about ratings. They just care about growing the game everywhere else outside the US. So that’s just not their priority.”

While Windhorst’s sentiment makes sense, one would imagine that Clark’s inclusion in the tournament would help grow the 3×3 women’s game tremendously, both inside and outside of the USA.

The USA women’s 3×3 team secured bronze medals on Monday. Perhaps Clark running the point could have helped them make it to the gold medal match.

Regardless, Clark is surely keen to compete in the 2028 Olympic games; albeit for USA’s 5×5 squad.