Casting for Season 33 of Dancing With the Stars is underway, and while we won’t find who will be competing on the show until the fall, there are rumblings of a few celebrities who might be joining. Caitlin Clark was easily the most talked about person in sports this year, and fans are wondering if the rising basketball star might give ballroom dancing a try. Is Caitlin Clark joining Dancing With the Stars for Season 33? Keep reading to find out.

Dancing With the Stars is ABC’s reality TV dance competition series based on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. The series, which premiered in 2005, pairs celebrities with professional dancers. The couples then compete against each other for judges’ points and audience votes. The pair with the lowest combined judges’ points and audience votes is eliminated each week until only one champion remains. That couple is declared the winner and receives the coveted Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy.

The show has featured several major basketball stars, but so far, only one female player has competed. Arike Ogunbowale competed on Dancing With the Stars: Athletes back in 2018 and was partnered with Gleb Savchenko. She was still in college at the time and had yet to be drafted by the WBNA. 

Caitlin Clark has already broken multiple records in basketball and her casting on Dancing With the Stars would mark the first time a WNBA played has competed on the show. See if Caitlin Clark is joining Season 33 below.

Is Caitlin Clark joining Dancing With the Stars?

Is Caitlin Clark joining Dancing With the Stars for Season 33? Most likely, no. Sources told the Daily Mail that the show was “bending over backwards” to try and cast the 22-year-old basketball star on Season 33, but Clark has “respectfully declined” the offer.

Clark had a standout year this year and broke the NCAA’s all-time scoring record in March 2024. She was then selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WBNA draft for the Indiana Fever. The University of Iowa basketball star also made her primetime television debut during an April 2024 episode of Saturday Night Live, in which she roasted Michael Che during Weekend Update.

Given her rapid rise to fame, it comes as no to surprise to learn that ABC wanted Clark to take part in Season 33 of Dancing With the Stars. “Every single offer you could get has been thrown her way,’ an insider told the Daily Mail. The source added that Clark will instead pursue “other opportunities” following her first WNBA season, which kicks off on May 3.

While fans not be seeing her on the dance floor, she may appear on their screens in a different way. “She’s not opposed to doing reality shows, but DWTS is not going to be on the table much to the chagrin of ABC, as they really wanted her and would have bent over backward to get her for the show,” the source continued. “But it just isn’t going to happen.” The insider noted that Clark is interested in appearing on Celebrity Family Feud or The Masked Singer, adding: “She will cross that bridge if presented.”

As for who will compete on Season 33, the source hinted that some Olympic athletes might be coming on board. “Whoever makes a considerable impact during the Olympics will be asked 100 per cent to be a part of the show,” they stated.

Dancing With the Stars has featured plenty of Olympic athletes over the years, including Simone Biles, Nastia Liukin, Johnny Weir and Nancy Kerrigan, among others. Several Olympians have even won the competition, such as Shawn Johnson, Laurie Hernandez, Adam Rippon and Meryl Davis.