Women’s Basketball Stars Prepare for USA Basketball National Team Camp
Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese, and JuJu Watkins, along with other promising players, will join the training camp of the United States national basketball team next month. This event, which will take place at Duke University from December 12th to 14th, will mark the debut of ten players in the senior national team camp.
The camp will feature the participation of prominent figures, including former Olympians and gold medalists in the World Cup such as Chelsea Gray, Brittney Griner, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young and Kahleah Copper, as well as 3×3 Olympian Dearica Hamby.
Also joining the group is Brionna Jones, a member of the 2022 World Cup team, and Aliyah Boston, the number one pick in the 2023 WNBA draft, is expected to be present.
Cameron Brink, Lauren Betts, Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen, Rickea Jackson, and Veronica Burton complete the list of players who will make their debut at the national team camp.
Clark, Bueckers, Watkins, Brink, Betts, Boston, and Citron have already won gold medals with USA Basketball in youth categories. Betts, Boston, Reese, Burton, and Jackson were part of the United States team in the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup. Iriafen will make her debut with USA Basketball.
Although Watkins, the USC star and National Player of the Year last season, will not participate on the court due to her recovery from an ACL injury suffered in March, she will have the opportunity to learn and integrate into the women’s national team program during the camp.
This training camp will serve as an evaluation opportunity for the new general manager of the United States women’s national team, Sue Bird, who will have to select the team for the FIBA World Cup in September 2026, where the United States will seek its fifth consecutive gold.
The camp will be led by the new national team head coach, Kara Lawson, currently a coach at Duke, with WNBA coaches Natalie Nakase, Nate Tibbetts, and Stephanie White as court coaches.
