With the 2024 Paris Olympics in the books, many are already looking forward to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
That includes at ESPN, where senior WNBA writer Michael Voepel commemorated the United States women’s national team’s gold medal victory over France on Sunday by immediately speculating about which players would comprise Team USA’s roster four years from now.
Yet despite her inclusion on Voepel’s list, Angel Reese wasn’t a fan of the exercise. Taking to X, the Chicago Sky star rookie forward expressed her belief that all of the focus should still be on what the 2024 roster just accomplished in winning Team USA’s eighth consecutive Olympics gold medal.
“Let’s just congratulate these women & let them enjoy this moment!” Reese wrote. “Leave me out of this until my time comes!”
Reese’s heart is clearly in the right place. But fair or not, that’s just not how sports media works.
At the conclusion of one Olympics, one of the most obvious questions is “who will be on Team USA four years from now?” It’s the same reason why offseason content does so well the NFL, NBA, MLB, etc. — people like looking ahead.
Would ESPN have shown more decorum in waiting at least an hour after the gold medal victory to post its story? Perhaps. But if it didn’t, it would have likely just been beaten out by another outlet writing the same story.
Of course, the larger context to all of this is that even before Sunday’s gold medal game, there had already been plenty of speculation regarding Team USA’s roster for the 2028 Olympics. Caitlin Clark’s exclusion from this year’s roster became a major storyline, leading many to wonder whether she and Reese would be representing the United States four years from now.
Considering the immediate success Clark and Reese have both enjoyed in their respective rookie seasons in the WNBA, it seems like a foregone conclusion that both will be playing for Team USA in Los Angeles in 2028. But it’s also understandable why Reese would want to distance herself from such conversations — even though her post likely only drew more attention to the story than it would have received otherwise.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.