The FIBA World Cup Team USA roster was announced this morning. Predictably, that announcement was followed by plenty of online chatter about who did or did not make the cut. While plenty of those conversations were nuanced and informed, some were not — and it's time to take a look at all of it.
First things first: 12 athletes have been named to the roster. Per USA Basketball, that list includes Aliyah Boston (Indiana Fever), Paige Bueckers (Dallas Wings), Caitlin Clark( Indiana Fever), Napheesa Collier( Minnesota Lynx), Kahleah Copper (Phoenix Mercury), Chelsea Gray (Las Vegas Aces), Rhyne Howard (Atlanta Dream), Kelsey Plum (Phoenix Mercury), Angel Reese (Atlanta Dream), Breanna Stewart (New York Liberty), A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces) and Jackie Young (Las Vegas Aces).
USA Basketball also noted that Copper, Gray, Plum, Stewart and Wilson are back to defend the World Cup title they won in 2022. Boston, Bueckers, Clark, Collier, Howard, Reese and Young will be making their debuts at the World Cup, and of that group, Boston, Bueckers, Clark and Reese will be representing Team USA for the first time at a major international competition.
To sum it up: Team USA's roster is awesome. So why are some people complaining?
The answer is partly just that it's difficult to please everyone, especially when the WNBA is stacked with so many talented players. Some of the discussion topics (like Chelsea Gray not deserving a spot on the team) appear to be born out of a genuine ignorance and/or lack of knowledge about the WNBA, so they aren't really worth a lot of time. But others are compelling, and are worth breaking down.
By and large, it seems the omission of Olivia Miles from the list has left fans the most surprised. That's fair in the context of the 2026 WNBA season, because Miles has been named Rookie of the Month every month so far and is well on her way to locking Rookie of the Year up quite neatly. She's an incredibly talented athlete and has competed for Team USA at the junior level. She will inevitably be named to senior Team USA rosters in the future. The question of Miles is really a different question: if you added her, who are you cutting — and why?
Some conversations about this roster are also ignoring the fact that Team France will 100% be coming for the United States in a way that a lot of newer women's basketball fans might not realize. The silver medal in 2024 was an honor France swallowed bitterly, and there is little doubt that the Americans will be high on their list of priorities. Team USA needs the strongest, most battle-tested roster they can put together, and the inclusion of five players who haven't yet been tested at that stage is already a risk.
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