Three Aces Olympians set to play for USA Basketball in World Cup 4%
By Associated Press75%
8/6/2026, 5:10:04 PM
Keywords: Aces, Basketball, Olympics, Sports, Wnba, USA Basketball, World Cup, Chelsea Gray, Aja Wilson, Jackie Young, Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier, Kahleah Copper, Kelsey Plum, Rhyne Howard, Aliyah Boston, Sue Bird, Kara Lawson, Diana Taurasi, Sabrina Ionescu, Alyssa Thomas, Olivia Miles
BS Summary: This article contains 13 faulty reasoning types, including Halo Effect, Representativeness Heuristic, and Availability Heuristic, with Optimism Bias as the most egregious example at 20.2% saturation with 105 hits. Analysis detected 453 faulty-reasoning hits from 519 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 10.9% and a BS Rank of 4% (29,377 of 30,527 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 96.20% of the article peer group.
NEW YORK — Olympic gold medalists Chelsea Gray, A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young of the Las Vegas Aces will play for U.S. women’s national team next month in the World Cup, USA Basketball announced Thursday.
Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers will make their World Cup debuts and will try to help the U.S. win its fifth consecutive FIBA World Cup title.
They will be joined by Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier, Kahleah Copper and Kelsey Plum, who competed in the 2024 Olympics.
“It’s always good when you compete for a gold medal, it’s a big honor,” said Wilson, a four-time WNBA MVP.
“It’s something I don’t take lightly.
Time to go there and have some fun and also win.”
Rhyne Howard and Aliyah Boston will also be making their World Cup debuts to round out the team.
“I’m so excited to announce the 2026 USA Basketball Women’s National Team,” USA Basketball national team managing director Sue Bird said.
“This is an incredibly talented group that has earned the opportunity to compete in Berlin.
Wearing a USA jersey is a privilege, and I know these 12 players will embrace that responsibility as we go after another gold medal.
I can’t wait to see what this team accomplishes together.”
This is the first time that USA Basketball had a managing director choose the team.
In the past it was a committee.
Kara Lawson will coach the squad.
Stewart is the third player in USA Basketball history to appear in four World Cup tournaments, joining Bird, who played in five, and Diana Taurasi, who also played in four.
The Americans will face China, Italy and the Czech Republic in pool play at the World Cup, which will be held from Sept. 4-13 in Berlin.
The WNBA will take a nearly three-week break in its season to accommodate the event.
Clark, Bueckers and Reese helped the Americans win a World Cup qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico in March.
Sabrina Ionescu has been a big part of the U.S. roster the last few years, but was left off this season's team.
Bird said she called many of the players who didn’t make the team this time, including Ionescu.
“I think we can all agree the hardest part, which is a problem I would never trade, is that we have so much talent,” Bird said.
“The beauty of that is it means almost all players are wanting to be on this team, willing to be on this team.
It is a sacrifice.
It is a time commitment.”
Alyssa Thomas helped the U.S. win gold at the Paris Olympics, but didn’t take part in any USA Basketball camps since.
Minnesota rookie Olivia Miles also hadn’t taken part in any USA camps yet either.
“Tremendous player.
So much fun to watch,” Bird said of Miles, who is the front-runner for the WNBA Rookie of the Year.
“It’s been amazing watching her grow in this league.
… She’s played with USA basketball before.
She will undoubtedly be in the mix for teams in the future.”
Speakers
2speakers45%attributed speech287writer words
Selected voice
95%flagged-word coverageSue Bird
195 attributed words84% of attributed speech41% writer coverage
Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.
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Analysis
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