BERLIN — Paige Bueckers said every player on the 2026 USA Women’s National Team will have to set aside the role she fills for her WNBA club. The Dallas Wings guard made the comments in a feature USA Basketball published Tuesday, three days before the United States opens the FIBA Women’s World Cup against China in Berlin.
“It’s all about sacrifice,” Bueckers said. “It’s all about winning, and it’s all about everybody on this team as a superstar in their own right. Everybody can score 20, 30 points a night, but what can you do to contribute to winning? And what can you do to sacrifice? Everybody’s going to have to buy in. We’re going to have to put whoever we are on our individual teams aside and really do whatever the team needs us to do.”
Kara Lawson coaches the team. Wings coach José Fernández and Duke’s Tia Jackson are the scout coaches, and Natalie Nakase, Nate Tibbetts, and Stephanie White are the assistants.
Team USA Roster Changed Monday With A’ja Wilson And Kelsey Plum Out
USA Basketball replaced A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum on Monday, four days before the opener. Both withdrew for health reasons. Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen of the Washington Mystics took their places.
Wilson leads the WNBA at 26.0 points per game. She has also averaged 9.4 rebounds, appeared on the injury report twice in the last week with a back issue, and played 30 minutes in the Las Vegas Aces’ final game before the break. Plum has dealt with a calf injury for most of the season and is out for the rest of the year.
Citron has averaged 16.8 points and 4.3 assists this season and earned her second consecutive All-Star selection. Berlin will be her senior national team debut. Iriafen has averaged 15.3 points and 9.4 rebounds in 37 games, and she played five games for the United States at the March qualifying tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Paige Bueckers On Sharing a Backcourt With Chelsea Gray
Chelsea Gray, 33, is the oldest player on the roster and one of three holdovers from the 2022 World Cup gold medal team still on it after Monday’s changes. She succeeded Sue Bird as the United States’ starting point guard and led the team in assists per game at the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 Olympics.
“I’ve always looked up to Chelsea Gray and getting to play with her at the World Cup Qualifying Tournament was so much fun,” Bueckers said. “There’s so much I can learn from her. Seeing where I was when I was going to the Barn and the Target Center, watching the Sparks and the Lynx rivalry, and now getting to share the floor with her. It’s pretty crazy to think about.”
Gray has averaged 6.8 assists this season. Her 93.7% from the free-throw line leads the WNBA.
Bueckers played alongside Gray at the qualifying tournament in San Juan in March, her first competitive senior national team appearance. The United States went 5-0 there.
Bueckers has averaged 20.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 5.9 assists in 38 games for Dallas this season and led the Wings in both scoring and assists. The Wings are 24-16 and clinched a playoff berth on Aug. 25.
The Americans have won the last four World Cups and 11 overall. A fifth consecutive title would match the Soviet Union, which won five in a row between 1959 and 1975.
Group D play opens Friday against China at 7:15 a.m. CT on TNT, truTV, and HBO Max. Italy follows on Sunday at 1:45 p.m. CT and Czechia on Monday at 1:45 p.m. CT, both on TNT. Dallas returns to WNBA play on Sept. 17 against the Los Angeles Sparks.
