USA Basketball has locked in the 12 players and coaching staff who will suit up for the U.S. at the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament, happening March 11–17 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Even though Team USA already punched its ticket to the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup in Berlin by winning the 2025 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup, the Americans will still take the floor in the six-team round-robin, rolling out a roster that mixes proven winners with the next wave of stars.
The group is headlined by four 2024 Olympic gold medalists: Kahleah Copper, Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum, and Jackie Young. Dearica Hamby and Rhyne Howard add more Olympic experience after taking home bronze in 3×3 basketball at the Paris Games.
Plum brings serious World Cup pedigree as a two-time champion (2018, 2022), while Copper and Gray were part of the gold-medal run in 2022.
Aliyah Boston is back with the senior team for the first time since the 2024 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgium, continuing a long track record of representing the U.S. across multiple levels.
A handful of players will get their first taste of senior national team competition, with Paige Bueckers, Sonia Citron, Caitlin Clark, Kiki Iriafen, and Angel Reese all set to make their competitive debuts.
Several players already have international reps under their belt. Boston, Howard, and Reese suited up at the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup, while Boston, Bueckers, Citron, Clark, and Howard have all won gold in various junior competitions.
There’s also no shortage of 3×3 experience. Plum and Young won Olympic gold in 2020, Hamby and Howard medaled in Paris, and both Boston and Bueckers have represented USA Basketball in junior 3×3 events.
Three-time Olympic and World Cup champion Breanna Stewart will link up with the team in Miami for a pre-tournament training camp on March 7–8.
Leading the squad in San Juan is Kara Lawson, who begins her run as head coach of the USA Basketball Women’s National Team for the 2025–28 cycle. She’ll be joined by assistants Natalie Nakase (Golden State Valkyries), Nate Tibbetts (Phoenix Mercury), and Stephanie White (Indiana Fever), all of whom previously worked as court coaches and are now stepping into official assistant roles.
White, the 2023 WNBA Coach of the Year, also has deep USA Basketball ties as a former player and helped guide Indiana to a franchise-best 24 wins in 2025. Tibbetts led Phoenix to the 2025 WNBA Finals and previously coached the U.S. men’s team at the 2011 Pan American Games. Nakase, the reigning WNBA Coach of the Year, made history by leading the Valkyries to the playoffs in their first season as an expansion team.
Jose Fernandez of the Dallas Wings and Duke’s Tia Jackson will serve as scout coaches during the tournament. Fernandez has won two gold medals with USA Basketball’s women’s junior teams, while Jackson also filled the same role at the 2025 Women’s AmeriCup.
Team USA opens play on March 11 against Senegal, then faces Puerto Rico on March 12, Italy on March 14, New Zealand on March 15, and Spain on March 17. The Americans have dominated recent matchups against several of these teams, including a 101–39 win over Senegal at the 2024 Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
San Juan is one of four host sites for the qualifiers, along with Istanbul; Lyon-Villeurbanne, France; and Wuhan, China.
The roster was selected by USA Basketball managing director Sue Bird, who will continue evaluating players ahead of final selections for the World Cup this September in Berlin. Team USA will be chasing a fifth straight Women’s World Cup title and its 12th overall.
Leave a comment