Staff USA will arrive in Berlin with a distinct look than the one USA Basketball unveiled earlier this month. Two embellished WNBA veterans have withdrawn simply days earlier than the FIBA Ladies’s Basketball World Cup begins, forcing late adjustments to a roster already balancing championship expertise with a number of major-tournament newcomers.

The Individuals stay loaded with WNBA stars, however shedding two-time World Cup gold medalists A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum removes confirmed manufacturing and continuity.

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Their replacements now be part of a staff carrying some of the dominant championship requirements in worldwide sports activities as we speak.

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Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen added to Staff USA roster

USA Basketball introduced Monday that Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen have joined its 12-player roster for the 2026 FIBA Ladies’s Basketball World Cup. The Washington Mystics teammates change Wilson and Plum, who can not compete in Berlin due to well being causes.

Citron will make her senior nationwide staff debut after incomes her second consecutive WNBA All-Star choice. The guard offers Staff USA one other perimeter defender and scorer alongside Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, Chelsea Grey, Rhyne Howard and Jackie Younger.

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Iriafen beforehand performed for the US throughout the World Cup qualifying event. She provides rebounding and frontcourt depth to a gaggle that can now rely extra closely on Aliyah Boston, Angel Reese, Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart.

Wilson and Plum had every gained two World Cup gold medals. Their departures go away Stewart and Grey because the roster’s most skilled World Cup gamers as coach Kara Lawson makes an attempt to mix established veterans with the subsequent technology of American stars.

Staff USA are the favorites on the 2026 FIBA Ladies’s World Cup

Phoenix Mercury guard Kahleah Copper (2) is defended by Los Angeles Sparks guard Ariel Atkins (7) as she drives to the basket.

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Held each 4 years, the FIBA Ladies’s Basketball World Cup brings collectively the highest girls’s nationwide groups. The 2026 event will characteristic an expanded 16-team discipline and run from Sept. 4 by way of Sept. 13 in Berlin.

Staff USA will play in Group D with China, Italy and Czechia. The Individuals open towards China on Sept. 4 in a rematch of the 2022 championship sport, then face Italy on Sept. 6 and Czechia on Sept. 7.

The roster adjustments take away two confirmed worldwide gamers, together with Wilson, the MVP of the 2022 World Cup and 2024 Paris Olympics. Nevertheless, something wanting one other gold medal would nonetheless qualify as a significant disappointment for the US.

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The Individuals have gained 4 consecutive World Cups and 11 gold medals total. In addition they personal one silver and two bronze medals. Staff USA went 8-0 throughout the 2022 event in Sydney and defeated China 83-61 within the championship sport.

Stewart supplies a reliable centerpiece in Wilson’s absence, whereas Collier and Copper carry Olympic expertise. Clark and Bueckers give Lawson two dynamic playmakers, and Grey provides the regular management wanted throughout elimination video games.

Successful a fifth consecutive championship stays the expectation. The up to date roster nonetheless possesses extra expertise and depth than some other staff in Berlin, however its youthful gamers should regulate shortly after the 2 late adjustments.

Staff USA roster for 2026 FIBA Ladies’s Basketball World Cup

Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Grey (12) celebrates after scoring a basket towards the Minnesota Lynx.

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