Women’s Basketball Stars Join the U.S. National Team Camp
Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese, and JuJu Watkins, along with other emerging talents, will make their debut at the U.S. women’s national basketball team camp next month. The event, which will be held at Duke University from December 12 to 14, will bring together some of the most outstanding players in American women’s basketball.
This training camp is a crucial platform for player evaluation, as the newly appointed general manager of the U.S. women’s national team, Sue Bird, will be in charge of selecting the team for the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup. In this tournament, the United States will seek its fifth consecutive gold.
The group of 18 participants also includes Olympic veterans and World Cup gold medalists such as Chelsea Gray, Brittney Griner, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, and Kahleah Copper, as well as 3×3 Olympian Dearica Hamby.
Brionna Jones, a member of the 2022 World Cup team, was also called up for the camp, and the presence of Aliyah Boston, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 WNBA draft, is expected.
Cameron Brink, Lauren Betts, Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen, Rickea Jackson, and Veronica Burton complete the group of debutantes at the national camp.
Clark, Bueckers, Watkins, Brink, Betts, Boston, and Citron have previously won gold medals with USA Basketball in youth competitions, and Betts, Boston, Reese, Burton, and Jackson were part of the U.S. Team at the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup. Iriafen will make her debut with USA Basketball.
Watkins, the USC star and national player of the year last season, will not participate on the court while recovering from her March ACL tear, but will have the opportunity to learn about the women’s national team program and integrate into it during the camp.
The training 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.
