The U.S. girls’s basketball roster was formally introduced Tuesday, and in six weeks, the 12 gamers will go after a file eighth consecutive Olympic gold medal. With seven gamers who’ve already appeared on Workforce USA (and a further two who had been on the three-on-three staff, referred to as 3×3, the final time round), that is an skilled group that enters the Video games as the favourite.
Expertise and maturity are solely heightened contemplating the roster skews towards gamers of their late 20s; the youngest gamers are 26 and Diana Taurasi at 42 is the oldest. Not like earlier iterations of Olympic rosters, no latest school grads had been included. Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark’s exclusion from the roster has been the topic of a lot debate, and reigning WNBA Rookie of the 12 months Aliyah Boston additionally wasn’t chosen.
The subsequent chapter in The Biggest Dynasty Ever.
The 2024 USA Girls’s Nationwide Workforce is right here.
🇺🇸 #USABWNT x #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/BdDki5De5O
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) June 11, 2024
With 12 versatile, barely older gamers, coach Cheryl Reeve has loads of flexibility with lineups and rotations, much like how the defensive-oriented coach operates along with her Minnesota Lynx squad. She is thought for getting probably the most out of her gamers, orchestrating the Lynx’s run within the 2010s to 4 WNBA titles in seven seasons. This will likely be Reeve’s first time on the helm of the nationwide staff on the Olympics. She was named the pinnacle coach for this cycle in 2021 after being an assistant for each Geno Auriemma (2016) and Daybreak Staley (2020).
GO DEEPER
Workforce USA chair explains Olympic roster choices, Caitlin Clark’s absence
Get to know the gamers who will signify Workforce USA in France this summer time.
Collier, 27, was the eleventh or twelfth participant on the Tokyo roster, however for this Olympics, she’s a possible starter alongside Chelsea Grey, A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart. Her recreation has continued to evolve (which isn’t any shock contemplating Reeve is her coach with the Lynx) — she’s capturing 40 p.c on 3-pointers this WNBA season. Collier confirmed in an Olympic qualifier recreation earlier this yr that she probably can grow to be a statistical chief, after tallying 23 factors, 7 rebounds and three steals in a tightly-contested recreation towards Belgium.
Copper, 29, is enjoying the very best basketball of her profession in her first season with the Phoenix Mercury, averaging 24 factors a recreation whereas capturing 39 p.c from lengthy vary as a high-volume 3-point shooter. Not like many different gamers on this Olympic roster who got here up by means of the youth system, Copper’s first time within the Workforce USA pool was in 2021, and her recreation has solely gone up. Her versatility is accentuated on protection, the place she will be able to guard a number of positions, each matching up with bigger, extra bodily gamers and maintaining step with perimeter guards.
We’re turning up the warmth with this trio.
From the Valley to Paris @kahleahcopper @brittneygriner @DianaTaurasi 🔥
🇺🇸 #USABWNT pic.twitter.com/pZc6ZhatAh
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) June 11, 2024
Grey, 31, has but to play this WNBA season after struggling a leg harm throughout the 2023 WNBA Finals. Nonetheless, Workforce USA mentioned it had been in common communication with Grey and her medical staff and really feel assured she’ll be capable of compete in France. Assuming that holds true, Grey would be the staff’s finest passer and its engine. For the Las Vegas Aces, she has been a dynamic scorer-facilitator, but when her position from the 2022 World Cup repeats, count on Grey to settle in additional as a main facilitator, particularly as a result of there’s not one other pure level guard on the roster. Reeve will want a high-assist, low-risk flooring basic, and that’s Grey.
When Griner, 33, returned to the U.S. from her 10-month detainment in Russia, she mentioned she’d solely go abroad once more to play for her nation within the Olympics. Now, that’s occurring as Griner makes her third Olympic roster. She just lately returned to the ground within the WNBA after recovering from a toe fracture, however even in two video games, she appears nice, averaging 17.5 factors, 6.5 rebounds, 3 assists and 1.5 blocks a recreation (in half-hour of play). She began all six video games in Workforce USA’s 2021 run in Tokyo (averaging 16.5 factors and over 7 rebounds a recreation whereas capturing practically 70 p.c). At 6-foot-9, she’s the tallest participant on the roster, offering Workforce USA an instantaneous mismatch towards any opponent.
A younger position participant the final Olympic cycle, Napheesa Collier now steps right into a extra distinguished place for Paris. (Dirk Waem / BELGA MAG / AFP through Getty Photographs)
Ionescu, 26, is one other potential backup ballhandler who probably will break up tasks with different guards, however her versatility as a scorer and rebounder will come in useful. Like Alyssa Thomas, Ionescu can go off for a triple-double. Together with her lengthy vary and fast launch, she might be used off the bench to assist construct a lead, or in shut video games, she might be inserted for her dependable free-throw capturing (over 90 p.c for her WNBA profession).
With no true backup level guard on the roster, Loyd, 30, probably will likely be known as into some backup ballhandling tasks — a job Workforce USA in all probability will tackle by committee. Loyd might be thought of for the ultimate starter, a spot that is still a little bit of a query mark and is likely to be decided by game-specific matchups. She’s a tried-and-true scorer and a very good rebounder who can get Workforce USA out on the break and both distribute or rating. One of many many perks of this roster is the variety of gamers who’ve proven they will catch fireplace even after a stoop, and Loyd is a kind of.
A member of the inaugural 3×3 squad, Plum, 29, may discover herself in that beginning two-guard spot, or she might be a burst of vitality and instantaneous scorer off the bench. She’s a high-volume 3-point shooter for the Aces, however she will be able to additionally get downhill and end by means of contact. With Grey out, the Aces have shared facilitating duties, and Plum is averaging practically 5 assists a recreation. Her familiarity with Wilson, Grey and Jackie Younger is a crucial profit for potential enjoying time, and that unit might be used as a “reset” at occasions, particularly early in pool play, when Workforce USA must get on the identical web page.
An opportunity at historical past 🥇🥇@JackieYoung3 & @Kelseyplum10 look to grow to be the primary athletes to win Olympic gold in each 3×3 & 5×5 basketball! pic.twitter.com/WesRhIXVcj
— USA Basketball 3×3 (@usab3x3) June 11, 2024
Breanna Stewart, F
At 29, Stewart will play in her third Olympics. In tandem with Wilson, Stewart supplies versatility and steadiness on each ends of the ground. Her 3-point capturing has been down this WNBA season, however Stewart is a three-level scorer with a knack for making defensive performs. Count on Stewart and Wilson to start out whatever the matchup as Reeve makes use of them as centerpieces and builds out from there.
Diana Taurasi, G
This will likely be Taurasi’s sixth Olympics. Her first got here in 2004 in Athens, the place at 22 she was the youngest participant on the staff. Her eldest teammate that yr? Then-34-year-old Daybreak Staley, who — 16 years later — would coach Taurasi on the Tokyo Olympics. Taurasi’s deft passing and sharp capturing will likely be useful, however her expertise is irreplaceable in comparison with every other participant within the Workforce USA pool. “We knew Diana’s basketball skill could be clutch for us in so many moments, however we additionally knew that her management was one thing this staff didn’t have,” U.S. girls’s nationwide staff committee chair Jen Rizzotti mentioned.
Diana Taurasi, a staple of the U.S. nationwide staff for twenty years, will go for her sixth Olympic gold medal. (Gregory Shamus / Getty Photographs)
Alyssa Thomas, F
Referred to as “The Engine” within the WNBA, Thomas, 32, is a triple-double menace each evening within the league. She’s not the tallest on any courtroom, however she is likely to be the strongest 6-2 participant within the league. The frequent storyline for commentators in regards to the 10-year vet is that Thomas has two torn labrums (cartilage in her shoulders) so she makes use of an unconventional capturing type. Nonetheless, that hasn’t stopped Thomas from being so efficient that Reeve truly requested her to return to the Workforce USA participant pool earlier than the 2022 World Cup after Thomas spent a number of years on the surface trying in.
A’ja Wilson, F
The 2-time WNBA MVP has been profitable in Olympic and worldwide play. As an Olympic rookie in Tokyo, Wilson was a standout, averaging over 16 factors and seven rebounds a recreation whereas enjoying for Staley, her former coach at South Carolina. She’ll once more have a consolation degree in France from being surrounded by three of her Aces teammates. She additionally has added a 3-point shot to her offensive arsenal. Wilson — and Stewart — are the brand new faces of Workforce USA in a changing-of-the-guard period, a brand new problem for each. Wilson, 27, has dealt with that very same duty on and off the courtroom for the Aces, and she or he seems primed for the event.
Jackie Younger, G
Younger, 26, was a member of the Tokyo 3×3 squad. She was known as into preparation on the final minute after preliminary 3×3 staff member Katie Lou Samuelson examined constructive for COVID-19 earlier than the staff’s departure. Younger has been one of the improved gamers by means of the latest Olympic cycle, changing into a extra prolific scorer and passer. She’s a tricky perimeter defender and dependable scorer who, like the opposite guards on this roster, may discover herself filling Grey’s sneakers when she’s not on the ground.
(Picture of Breanna Stewart, Kelsey Plum, A’Ja Wilson and Sabrina Ionescu celebrating their gold-medal win on the 2022 FIBA World Cup: Kelly Defina / Getty Photographs)