USA Basketball’s long-awaited youth movement is here, as Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese and Aliyah Boston will make their first USA appearances at a major international competition next month at the FIBA World Cup in Germany.
The 12-player women’s national team, which USA Basketball announced Thursday morning, is also headlined by A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, who have combined for six WNBA MVP awards and have each won World Cup and Olympic MVP honors. Napheesa Collier, Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, Kahleah Copper and Rhyne Howard round out the roster.
The players — who will seek the program’s 12th World Cup gold medal and fifth straight — were selected by national team managing director Sue Bird and approved by the USA Basketball board of directors.
“The makeup of the roster is pretty straightforward,” Bird told reporters over Zoom following the announcement. “Just wanting to have a good mixture of people with experience, of people with youth — obviously, that sets us up for the future as well, but also a team that complements each other and can go on the court and win gold.
“And that’s always the north star in all these decisions that I’ve made: putting together a roster that complements each other, has a cohesiveness, can play [national team coach] Kara [Lawson]’s style, and go out there and get a gold.”
“It’s great to have a team and to have a roster,” Lawson said in a statement. “It’s been a long process to whittle it down to 12 players, and I think that speaks to just the talent we have in our country across the board. These 12 have earned it through their play and their consistency. I couldn’t be more excited about working with each of them, and I’ve had good experience with each of them… I know what they’re capable of, and I know that this is a group that’s ready for the challenges that are ahead.”
Wilson, Stewart, Plum, Gray and Copper suited up for USA at the 2022 World Cup, with Plum, Stewart and Wilson also on the 2018 squad. Those five plus Collier and Young all won gold with USA at the 2024 Olympics in Paris; Wilson, Stewart, Collier, Gray and Plum (3×3) are all multitime Olympic gold medalists.
It’ll be just the second major international competition for USA Basketball without either Bird or Diana Taurasi since the 2000 Olympics.
The USA squad for Berlin features four 24-year-olds and seven players who will be under 30 at the time of the competition; Gray is the eldest at 33.
Though newcomers to the senior team, Boston, Bueckers, Clark and Howard all won gold with USA Basketball at FIBA junior competitions earlier in their careers.
The evaluation period included national team camps in December at Duke University and in April at the Phoenix Final Four. The USA national team also competed at the FIBA Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament in March, where they went 5-0; eight members of that roster — Bueckers, Clark (who was named MVP), Copper, Gray, Howard, Plum, Reese and Young — are headed to Berlin. Boston was also named to the team before being unable to participate due to injury.
Plum and Collier made the cut despite missing most of the WNBA season so far due to injury. Plum has appeared in 14 games while dealing with lower leg injuries and returned on Sunday after being sidelined since late June. Collier had two offseason ankle surgeries and made her season debut in late July.
Bird said that USA Basketball stayed in communication with players who were dealing with injuries as well as their “supporting casts,” reinforcing the message that they should always put their health first.
Sabrina Ionescu — a 2024 Olympian and member of the 2022 World Cup squad — was a notable absence from the Berlin roster. Bird did not share specifics as to why Ionescu did not make the team, beyond saying she called Ionescu directly to share the news and insisting that roster composition “is not a reflection of who they are as players.”
“It’s about making choices for those that I think are going to be part of the 12 to win a gold medal and complement each other, and playing under Kara and having a cohesiveness, and this is where it landed,” Bird said. “I knew taking this job that I’d be sitting here one day talking to you all about whatever player it was who didn’t get selected, and it’s the hard part. And it’s also the best problem to have because of all the talent.”
Bird was also asked about the absence of Olivia Miles, who did not participate in any national team camps while completing her senior season in college but is now as a rookie taking the WNBA by storm.
Attending training camps is not technically a requirement to make the team, but Bird did say it was an “important piece” to see how players fare in the USA Basketball environment and under the coach’s system.
Bird still credited Miles for her sensational start to her pro career.
“As far as Olivia goes, she’s played with USA basketball before,” Bird said. “She will undoubtedly be in the mix for teams in the future.”
The team will be led by Lawson and assistants Natalie Nakase, Nate Tibbetts and Stephanie White, with Jose Fernandez and Tia Jackson serving as scout coaches.
The U.S. faces China (Sept. 4), Italy (Sept. 6) and Czechia (Sept. 7) in group play before moving on to the knockout rounds. The tournament will run Sept. 4-13, and the WNBA season will pause Aug. 31-Sept. 16.
The roster:
Aliyah Boston, Indiana Fever
Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings
Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever
Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx
Kahleah Copper, Phoenix Mercury
Chelsea Gray, Las Vegas Aces
Rhyne Howard, Atlanta Dream
Kelsey Plum, Phoenix Mercury
Angel Reese, Atlanta Dream
Breanna Stewart, New York Liberty
A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
Jackie Young, Las Vegas Aces
