Caitlin Clark earns Diana Taurasi's approval after wearing iconic No 12 for Team USA debut

Taurasi, a three-time FIBA women's gold medalist, praised Clark's performance and said she looks forward to watching her this summer as she prepares for her first Olympic run.

"And Caitlin will do that. She had a great qualifier down in Puerto Rico. It's just going to be fun to watch her play in the summer, in Germany, and then the Olympics."

"No one better to wear the 12, and Caitlin's going to put some gold medals on that jersey, you know," she added.

While players often wear different jersey numbers in international competition, Taurasi said she had no role in Clark's decision to wear No. 12, but joked that a familiar figure may have had a hand in it.

"You know, once I'm out of things, I'm out," Taurasi said. "Maybe Sue [Bird], you know, she's a little bit more calculated than people think. So maybe that was a Sue job. That wouldn't surprise me."

Before this month's FIBA action, a string of injuries sidelined Clark for much of the past eight months, limiting the NCAA's all-time scoring leader to 13 games in her second WNBA season.