Previewing the 2024 USA Basketball Women’s National Team

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Do you know the first basketball players to ever win five Olympic gold medals? Here’s a hint: they’re former college teammates, NCAA champions, best friends and, at one point during their careers, fierce rivals. But when they matched together in red, white and blue, they were magical. Did you find out who it is yet? No, not men. Think again.

“Sue joined the national team in the 2002 World Championship, and I joined in 2004. We were little kids in Athens,” Diana Taurasi told USA Basketball. “It’s very important that we go through it together, because we went through the same experience at the same time.”

While Sue Bird retired from the game just two years ago, DT is still out there dropping buckets and taking names against any opponent in the WNBA as the League’s all-time leading scorer. He has been hailed as the GOAT, a moniker that not only covers his career so far at the Phoenix Mercury, but around the world, too: throughout the last 23 years he has spent preparing for USA Basketball, except for Bird, he has a collection of largest haul of gold hardware, including five Olympic golds, three FIBA ​​World Cup golds and a FIBA ​​World Cup bronze medal. It’s an honor he doesn’t take lightly, and in his own words, representing USA Basketball is a commitment he takes very seriously.

“I think we’re taking this seriously,” Taurasi said Athletic. “We don’t look at it as a four-year thing. We consider it a job.”

Taurasi is part of the great legacy that the USA Women’s National Soccer Team has always had. Dating back to 1984, when the women’s team won the first ever Olympic gold medal, they have consistently put together some of the most outstanding and successful teams ever assembled. Don’t look past the seven consecutive Olympic gold medals they’ve won, or the fact that the United States is already the favorite in Paris, currently ranked No. 1 in the 5×5 tournament and No. 2 to 3×3 tournament.

This year’s list is full of champions, MVPs, All-Stars, Rookies of the Year and legends. DT will line up with other Olympic teammates and gold medalists, including Chelsea Gray, Brittney Griner, Jewell Loyd, Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson, as well as Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young (both gold winners in the 3×3 tournament in 2021). The list also includes several notable Olympic debutants: Alyssa Thomas, Kahleah Copper and Sabrina Ionescu. Led by a coaching staff that includes some of the brightest minds in the game—head coach Cheryl Reeve, assistant coaches Kara Lawson, Joni Taylor, Mike Thibault, Curt Miller and Tanisha Wright—the 2024 USA Women’s National Team is locked in and ready to take it back . Three years ago in Tokyo, the US cooked up the competition and defeated Japan, 90-75, to win the gold. DT was in that group, along with Loyd, BG, Chelsea, Stewie and A’ja. Now, add Alyssa, Kahleah and Sab to the mix. That’s a lot of buckets for one team.

How did all these stars come together? The obvious answer is a multi-year selection process that includes training camps and games. But, according to Taurasi’s words, there is more to the list than just the names on the list. It’s about chemistry, problem solving and putting together a team of competitors who can, and will, pull it off.

“Once you get to the second training camp, you can see the Olympics in the distance,” said DT in an episode of USA Basketball’s “The National Team” series, aptly titled, How The Sauce is Done. “At least, the training camp has become more important. It’s trying to find teams that play well together, find problems quickly together. I think the one thing I’ve learned throughout these Olympics is that the best combination of players can get you somewhere very quickly.”

Players compete for a spot on a 12-man roster, which means you put egos aside and just show you’ve got what it takes.

Taurasi elaborated: “You have to put your best foot forward, that’s the only way you can make an impact—by being here and buying into what we’re trying to do as a team. Everyone who has put on that jersey so far has committed, and I think that means a lot to the selection committee, to the coaches.”

The selection process is very competitive, and while there is an abundance of talent in the WNBA, Taurasi stands out. As selection committee chair Jennifer Rizzotti told The Associated Press in April: “We stick to our principles of talent, transparency, suitability for the position, credibility and experience. It should be a combination of all the work.”

The last list is an example of that. Outside of DT, Griner is one of the more experienced Olympians on the team. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, USA Basketball’s BG book also includes a 2018 World Cup gold medal game title and was named a 2014 FIBA ​​World Cup All-Team honoree. A powerhouse in the paint and shot blocker, BG’s presence on the team will bring a sense of toughness and strength that goes beyond the hardwood. Then there’s Gray, who was drafted into the WNBA just a year after Griner, and has been a vocal leader. Three-time WNBA champion i go vocal on the Las Vegas Aces, even head coach Becky Hammon. “I’m his assistant,” Hammon once told the media. “I tell them [the Aces] every time, if Chelsea calls something and I call something, she listens to Chelsea. “

In terms of his game, Gray brings unparalleled versatility: he’s a scorer who can hit catch shots, a player with insane court vision and a savant with a high basketball IQ who can read and set up his teammates. Oh, and she can perform under pressure, as the world saw when the Aces bounced back and won another WNBA championship last year. Even more shocking is that Gray will be joining them and his fellow chip winners, including two-time MVP Wilson and All-Stars Young and Plum. If you think the Aces have declined at all since taking over in 2023, think again. Wilson’s star power continued to rise to the next level this season and, as we went to press, she set a WNBA record against the Dallas Wings as a first-time player with at least 35 points, 10 rebounds and 5 steals. Which is, we might add, his tenth game with at least 30/10. He is also the first to post at least 35 points and 5 steals in multiple games. Wilson is competitive, fearless and true to herself and what she’s all about, on and off the court. Hammon said it was the best. Wilson is “the best in the world.” As for KP and Young, they are both dangerous guards who know what it takes to hold their own on the international stage. Back in 2021, they both won Gold in the US women’s Olympic 3 × 3 competition. So, yes, good luck to other countries who have to face part of the Aces context.

Another seasoned Olympian is the reigning WNBA MVP. Stewie is a proven winner, so much so that she is one of 11 players, who have won an Olympic gold medal, a FIBA ​​World Cup gold medal, a WNBA title and an NCAA title in her career thus far (Griner and DT are also part of that list). Stewie has been showing USA Basketball since high school – in 2011, he was the youngest member and the only high school athlete to compete in the Pan American Games, where he started all four games and led the team in scoring (15.3 ppg), rebounds. (11.3) and blocks (1.1). Poised and poised for greatness from the start, Stewart is coming off a WNBA-high scoring season last season (23.0 ppg) and momentum to help lead the New York Liberty to the WNBA Finals for the first time since ’02. With his fit and the same players he faced in the finals, the American team should be a scary sight for their opponents this summer.

The rest of the roster is full of goal scorers and playmakers. Napheesa Collier was part of that team that won the 2020 Olympic gold medal, and since then she has raised the level of her game. Phee currently leads the Lynx and is averaging a double-double (second career-best 20.0 points and career-high 10.2 rebounds). Then there’s Loyd, who led the league in scoring last season with 24.7 points and is an Olympian. again three-time FIBA ​​World Cup/3×3 gold medalist. Another member of that 2022 FIBA ​​World Cup team is Thomas, a consistent and crazy triple jumper who will be making his Olympic debut. She is also the first former Maryland Terrapin to play on the US Women’s National Team since Vicky Bullett, who won Gold in ’88 and Bronze in ’92.

AT brings a decade of WNBA experience and veteran leadership, and will fit in well with her USA Olympic teammates. Then there’s Kahleah Copper, who brings a dynamic scoring drive and strong Philly mentality that makes her a must-see. After winning the ‘chip with the Chicago Sky in 2021, he raised his game, too. The three-time WNBA All-Star, who has been dropping 30-point games on any given night this season, will bring that same energy to the international stage in her first Olympics.

Last, but certainly not least, is Sabrina Ionescu. It doesn’t matter if he’s competing against the W’s or the greatest shooter of all time, Sab, with a single forehead line and space at the three-point line, is guaranteed to shoot the lights out of the gym, regardless of the gym. Oh, and you are again he averaged a career high this year, his fourth season with the New York Liberty. Experience is one thing, but the game always speaks for itself.

And there you have it. If they win it all, the 2024 Women’s National Team will make history by bringing an eighth straight gold medal, and lucky number 10 overall, back to the States. Legends of the past embodied greatness, but this team has what it takes to carry that legacy and more.

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Photos via Getty Images.