Three former UConn women’s basketball players have been named to the USA women’s national team to play in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, which will take place Sept. 4-13 in Berlin.
Paige Bueckers, Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart were three of the 12 players chosen to play for the national team.
The selection marks Buecker’s first appearance for the national team at a major international competition (World Cup or Olympic Games). She had previously won gold at FIBA junior world competitions.
Sue Bird, USA Basketball’s national team managing director who chose the team, said she was excited to announce the roster Thursday.
“The makeup of the roster is pretty straightforward,” Bird said Thursday. “I talked about this in some of the camps about wanting to have a good mixture of people with experience and people with youth – obviously that sets us up for the future as well – but it’s also a team that complements each other and can go on the court and win the gold and that’s always the North Star in these decisions I’ve made – putting together a roster that has cohesiveness, can play (national team coach) Kara (Lawson)’s style and can go out and get a gold.”
The team roster includes Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark, Kahleah Copper, Chelsea Gray, Rhyne Howard, Kelsey Plum, Angel Reese, A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young.
Stewart was on the team that won the 2022 FIBA World Cup title and she and Collier were on the Olympic gold medal-winning team in Paris in 2024. It will be Stewart’s fourth World Cup appearance; only two other players – Bird (5) and Diana Taurasi (4) – have played in at least four World Cups.
Caitlin Clark will also make her first appearance at a World Cup; in 2024, a public outcry ensued after the popular Clark – then a WNBA rookie – was left off the Olympic team.
Breanna Stewart #30 of the New York Liberty speaks to the media during the AT&T WNBA All-Star 2026 Practice at Obama Presidential Center on July 24, 2026 in Chicago. (Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images)
Bird, who was named the national team’s managing director last year, said the team was difficult to choose because of the glut of talent in the WNBA.
“I think we can all agree, the hardest part – which I would never trade – is that we have so much talent,” she said. “The beauty of that is almost all players are wanting to be on this team, willing to be on this team. It’s a good problem to have but makes it difficult trying to piece it all together.
“Roster construction to me is not about looking at one player in the silo. It’s about looking at the full breadth of each player and how they’re going to make things work together.”
Lynx forward Napheesa Collier moves the ball during the first half of Game 2 in the first round of the WNBA basketball playoffs against the Golden State Valkyries, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez, File)
At the 2022 FIBA Women’s World Cup in Australia, Wilson led the USA with 17.2 points and 7.5 rebounds and was named the MVP, while Plum and Stewart contributed 15.8 and 12.8 points.
The WNBA will pause from Aug. 30-Sept. 17 so the players can compete in the World Cup. The U.S., which is going for its fifth consecutive World Cup title, will play China in its first game Sept. 4, followed by a game against Italy Sept. 6 and Czechia Sept. 7.
The U.S. team has not lost a game at the World Cup or the Olympics since losing to Russia in the 2006 FIBA Women’s Basketball Cup in Brazil.