Team USA women’s basketball just released its 12-person roster for the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament, and the young blood is strong. 

Five of the 12 players named to the roster are from the last two WNBA draft classes—Caitlin Clark (2024), Angel Reese (2024), Paige Bueckers (2025), Kiki Iriafen (2025), and Sonia Citron (2025). The average age of the squad is 26.6 and Chelsea Gray is the oldest player at the age of 33.

The team has already qualified for the 2026 FIBA World Cup from their championship at the 2025 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup, but are still competing at the round-robin from March 11 to March 17. With the pressure of needing to qualify off the table, Sue Bird, the managing director, took the opportunity to call up and develop the young core. 

Clark, Reese, Bueckers, Iriafen, and Citron all made their senior national team camp debuts in December at the training camp in Durham, North Carolina. Duke women’s basketball coach Kara Lawson, who was selected to be the head coach of USA women’s basketball in September of 2025, said the new players impressed her at their first camp.

“Even the people being here for the first time, you’ve got to play [and] you’ve got to compete,” Lawson said during the national team camp in Dec. of 2025. “There's an approach that you have to have to be in one of these camps and I thought that the young ones did a good job of trying to be at that level.”

WNBA Prowess

In the 2025 WNBA season, Bueckers was ranked fifth-overall in points per game, Reese and Iriafen were first and fourth, respectively, for rebounds per game, and Clark and Beuckers were second and tenth, respectively, for assists per game.

All five of the young players on the squad were selected for the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game, with Reese and Clark being selected in 2024 as well. 

The talent level of the young players matches or is coming close to the levels of more experienced players, and Bird said qualified players should get called up to the senior team earlier in order to continue to develop their experience.

“You want them to be involved as quickly as possible to get comfortable,” Bird said after being given the role as managing director in May of 2025. “Because USA Basketball can be, from a player standpoint, an uncomfortable situation because we don’t have a lot of training time and you’re asked to do possibly, potentially, a different role. And you’re trying to do that on the fly. And so that can just cause a lot of discomfort. So the sooner you’re in it and you’re experiencing it, the better.”

The 2026 Team

For this competition, the young squad is backed by 2024 3x3 Olympic Bronze Medalists Rhyne Howard—who is also a VIS Mentor—and Dearica Hamby, 2024 Olympic Gold Medalists Kahleah Copper, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, and Gray, as well as VIS Mentor Aliyah Boston, who will be playing for the senior national team for the first time since 2024. 

By putting the less experienced players into a camp with players who have been on the national team for a longer period of time, the team will grow individually and together. The young players will learn how the program runs and the leadership qualities needed for USA basketball, but the learning isn’t just a one way road.

“They can add to my bag,” Gray told Sports Illustrated after the Dec. camp. “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.” 

With the 2026 FIBA World Cup approaching, this tournament will give the young players an opportunity to prove their worth and mesh with the more experienced players.