Gold medals are supposed to finish arguments, not begin new ones.
Nevertheless, after Staff USA defeated France 97-79 to win the 2026 FIBA Girls’s World Cup, the web didn’t begin celebrating straight away. A lot of the ladies’s basketball group as an alternative started criticizing head coach Kara Lawson.
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Kara Lawson Faces Heavy Criticism Regardless of Staff USA’s World Cup Win
The win itself was the payoff for coaching camp, which started again in December. Breanna Stewart scored 22 factors and was named the event MVP, whereas Jackie Younger chipped in 18 factors and Kahleah Copper added 15.
The starters executed Lawson’s sport plan. By the field rating, the whole lot went proper. By the response on-line, virtually nothing did.
Lawson was named head coach of the USA Basketball Girls’s Nationwide Staff in September 2025. The Duke College head coach was hand-picked by managing director Sue Fowl to steer this system by this World Cup and into the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
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Lawson additionally introduced loads of USA Basketball expertise, having served as an assistant coach and led the three×3 squad to a gold medal in Tokyo. Regardless of that resume and the most recent championship, some followers are already calling for a change earlier than the 2028 Olympics.
“Whatever the final result of this sport, Kara Lawson can’t be our coach in 2028,” one X consumer wrote.
Recreation after sport, Lawson was below criticism for leaning on the identical veteran-heavy beginning 5, together with Chelsea Grey, Younger, Copper, Napheesa Collier, and Stewart. It did not matter that the bench unit often introduced a sooner tempo. The beginning lineup barely modified.
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To critics, it was stubbornness dressed up as technique.
“Kara Lawson is essentially the most cussed, unserious coach in Staff USA historical past,” one fan argued.
With Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, and Angel Reese largely occupying bench roles through the event, one X consumer felt Lawson had managed to frustrate three of the WNBA’s greatest fan bases.
“Coach managed to upset the three greatest fanbases in WBB. Caitlin’s, Paige’s, and the Angels’,” they commented.
One fan took a special method to the controversy, arguing that coaches like Lawson typically seem extra involved with defending gamers’ emotions than making the selections essential to win video games.
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“Too too apparent, and the coaches not placing a cease to it simply reveals they care extra in regards to the emotions of the gamers than enjoying successful basketball,” the X consumer wrote.
“Kara Lawson ought to by no means have the ability to coach a USA group once more. Praying the phrase on the road is true too about sw being fired after this season bcuz belief me, they are not successful a chip along with her as coach.”
The massive query now’s whether or not USA Basketball will take heed to the criticism or stick to Lawson because it appears to be like forward to the 2028 Olympics.
This text initially appeared on Professional Soccer Community.
