Chelsea Gray was one of four 2024 Olympic gold medalists to take part in USA Basketball’s training camp at Duke this past December. The rest of the training camp roster was largely made up of young stars, like Paige Bueckers, Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Aliyah Boston, Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen, and Rickea Jackson. Having so many young players participating in the training camp gave Kara Lawson and Sue Bird the opportunity to evaluate the future of USA Basketball. Spoiler: it’s very bright. The senior national team will be in good hands for many years.
The young players brought great energy to the training camp, but that’s not all they did. Chelsea Gray is a four-time WNBA champion, the 2022 Finals MVP, a six-time All-Star, and a three-time All-WNBA team member. She has won and excelled at the highest level for over a decade. And yet, Gray said on Sports Illustrated’s “Around the W” that there were things she could learn from the young stars she played with at Team USA training camp, especially Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark.
“They can add to my bag,” Gray said. “There are some new things. Paige did a little in-and-out and hook layup in practice, and I was like, ‘I’mma try that and add that to the bag.’ We talk about Caitlin’s range and being able to do that off the dribble. So, I want to get better off the dribble.”
If anyone needed extra proof that Bueckers and Clark were two of the most talented and unique young guards in the league, Gray provided it. It’s not every day that a championship veteran of Gray’s caliber is so open about wanting to learn skills younger players already possess.
Clark and Bueckers could headline a new generation of Team USA players
Not every young star who was invited to this latest training camp will make the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics roster. Several veterans, like A’ja Wilson, Sabrina Ionescu, and Napheesa Collier, will have a spot on the national team if they want it even though they didn’t practice at Duke this December.
Nevertheless, the World Cup could provide an opportunity to send out a relatively young senior national team for the first time in a while. The World Cup will take place in Berlin, Germany, from September 4 to 13–right before the WNBA playoffs if the season starts in May or June. So, some of the veteran stars in the Team USA pool may not want to compete in a physically demanding tournament right before the most important stretch of their W seasons.
That would open up spots for younger players. Bueckers, Reese, Iriafen, and Citron may not even be in the playoff picture next season.
Either way, Bueckers and Clark both have an excellent shot at making the World Cup and the Olympic roster.