Team USA’s senior women’s group will engage in a series of de facto exhibitions in San Juan as they prepare for the FIBA World Cup.
The World Cup is coming to America. Also, some soccer will be played on its soil later this summer.
Photo credit: USA Basketball
The United States’ women’s national basketball team is inching toward its next chance to add to its crammed trophy case, as the group will go for its fifth consecutive title at the FIBA Women’s World Cup, which is set to be staged in Germany during the late summer stretch in September.
Preparation gets underway this week, as the Americans will partake in a qualifying tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Five games await the red, white, and blue, beginning with a late-afternoon showing against Senegal. While the Americans have their spot at both the World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games well-secured and several major faces (i.e. Breanna Stewart) won’t lace up, there’s an opportunity for the new squad to build a foundation in The Walled City.
Shootaround Scene
Watch #USABWNT vs Senegal today at 5 pm ET on truTV/HBO Max! #FIBAWWC pic.twitter.com/QEAtrrz7U9
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) March 11, 2026
“The group’s just trying to continue to build that chemistry,” veteran guard Kelsey Plum noted as a brief camp in Miami got underway. “We have a very short time period together. That’s kind of a classic staple of USA Basketball. We only usually get a couple days of practice and then go straight into competition. I’m assuming the World Cup is really not going to be that different.”
“You really got to come locked in, because you really get 48 hours, maybe, then you’re live,” Plum continued. “A lot of these teams have been practicing with each other year round and they have years and years of experience. So it’s really important to just come, leave your ego at the door, and just be ready to work.”
Check out the American group donning the stars and stripes in San Juan below, as well as who they’ll face on the road ahead …
Roster
Monique Billings
Age: 29
From: Corona, CA
WNBA Team: Golden State Valkyries
Photo credit: USA Basketball
Billings was a late injury replacement after partly headlining Hive BC’s first season in Unrivaled. Maiden voyages has been a recurring theme for Billings at the end of her twos, as she also partook in Golden State’s expansion cause in the WNBA before making her star-spangled senior debut with the Americans.
Paige Bueckers
Age: 24
From: Hopkins, MN
WNBA Team: Dallas Wings
Photo credit: USA Basketball
The first red, white, and blue senior experience will serve as the capper of a whirlwind 365 days for Bueckers, who picked up a collegiate national title, the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year Award, and an Unrivaled playoff victory in that span. Bueckers, who famously coined the term “young and turnt” during her December debut at camp, will show up for the senior team after capturing several American golds at the amateur levels.
Rae Burrell
Age: 25
From: Las Vegas, NV
WNBA Team: Los Angeles Sparks
Photo credit: USA Basketball
Another late arrival through injury, Burrell is fresh off a second season with Unrivaled’s Vinyl BC and a career-best season with the Los Angeles Sparks. Burrell has lingered in American camps in the past but this will be her first time repping the country in a game situation.
Caitlin Clark
Age: 24
From: West Des Moines, IA
WNBA Team: Indiana Fever
Photo credit: USA Basketball
Far and away the biggest attraction in this assured American endeavor has to be the return of Clark, whose sneakers will touch game hardwood for the first time in eight months after a series of lower body injuries ate away at her second professional season. Clark’s exclusion from the last Olympic roster created controversy but it stands to reason that she’s on the fast track to Los Angeles this time around.
Kahleah Copper
Age: 31
From: Philadelphia, PA
WNBA Team: Phoenix Mercury
Photo credit: USA Basketball
The newly-crowned Olympic heroine is back for another go at it after partaking in the Mercury’s surprising run to the WNBA Finals and another Unrivaled tour with Rose BC that briefly took her home to Philadelphia. Copper will get to work with assistant coach and WNBA companion Nate Tibbetts, who is one of several assistant coaches gathered for the cause.
Chelsea Gray
Age: 33
From: Manteca, CA
WNBA Team: Las Vegas Aces
Photo credit: USA Basketball
The “Point Gawd” is taking back another valuable keepsake from her Floridian foray, capturing both Unrivaled’s MVP Award and 1-on-1 Tournament title all while getting fitted for yet another WNBA championship ring. She’s going for her third Olympic gold after previously starring for the Americans in their recent runs in Tokyo and Paris.
Dearica Hamby
Age: 32
From: Marietta, GA
WNBA Team: Los Angeles Sparks
Photo credit: USA Basketball
Another SoCal product that will potentially be looking to defend home hardwood in 2028, Hamby likewise made the short commute from Wayfair Arena to the Team USA activities. Having repped Vinyl BC, Hamby is leaping to five-on-five action after previously capturing an Olympic bronze at the three-on-three level.
Rhyne Howard
Age: 25
From: Cleveland, TN
WNBA Team: Atlanta Dream
Photo credit: USA Basketball
Howard posted a Dreamy season with Atlanta before returning for another trio showing with Vinyl. She’s another one rising up from the three-on-three level and has made a habit of turning Florida into a working vacation, having previously worked with the Gators’ women’s program in Gainesville in the interim.
Kiki Iriafen
Age: 22
From: Los Angeles, CA
WNBA Team: Washington Mystics
Photo credit: USA Basketball
Iriafen has had another turbulent, if not triumphant, introduction to the professional level over the last 52 weeks, having had to become a late leader at USC amidst JuJu Watkins’ injury before engaging in a fantastic freshman showing with the Mystics. She also made the move from Unrivaled, having staged a run to the title game with Phantom BC.
Kelsey Plum
Age: 31
From: Poway, CA
WNBA Team: Los Angeles Sparks
Photo credit: USA Basketball
Amidst working for a new collective bargaining agreement on the WNBA level, Plum also engaged in the Ghost Gang’s goals that fell just short of a championship. She has earned Olympic golds at both the three-on-three and five-on-five levels and she has also partaken in each of the last two World Cup runs in Spain and Australia respectively.
Angel Reese
Age: 23
From: Baltimore, MD
WNBA Team: Chicago Sky
Photo credit: USA Basketball
Another high-profile new entrant to the senior team, Reese made a fleeting yet emphatic Unrivaled return late in the game. As she makes her senior team debut, Reese is looking for her first national squad gold after taking home a silver at the 2023 AmeriCup in Mexico.
Jackie Young
Age: 28
From: Princeton, IN
WNBA Team: Las Vegas Aces
Photo credit: USA Basketball
Yet another Las Vegas Ace holding down the fort, Young will also be adorned in her Olympics golds for three and five. She’ll likely look to avenge postseason disappointment in South Beach, as Laces BC bowed out in the opening round of the Unrivaled playoffs.
Schedule
Date
Opponent
Time (ET)
TV
March 11
Senegal
4:45 p.m.
TruTV/HBO Max
March 12
Puerto Rico
7:45 p.m.
TruTV/HBO Max
March 14
Italy
4:45 p.m.
TruTV/HBO Max
March 15
New Zealand
1:45 p.m.
TruTV/HBO Max
March 17
Spain
4:45 p.m.
TNT/HBO Max
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
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