Kara Lawson Prepares Team USA for Toughest World Cup Challenge
Kara Lawson walked into this World Cup cycle knowing exactly what she didn’t have — A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum — and refused to waste a second on it.
“We don't have time to be worried about who's not here,” the Team USA head coach said, eyes already fixed on Berlin and a field that has never looked deeper. The reigning World Cup MVP is sidelined. The Olympic tournament MVP is sidelined. The guard who poured in 12 clutch points in Paris to help secure gold is sidelined.
And yet, Lawson’s message is blunt: the rest of the world is coming, fast, and this might be the hardest World Cup the United States has ever tried to win.
The defending champions arrive in Germany without Wilson, the towering force who owned the 2022 World Cup and then dominated the 2024 Paris Olympics for both Team USA and the Las Vegas Aces. Plum’s shot-making will also be missing in crunch time. Their absence strips away a safety net the Americans have leaned on for years.
What’s left is a new-look roster asked to shoulder the weight of a dynasty and stare down 15 other nations stacked with elite talent. It all starts on Sept. 4 in Berlin.
Across the bracket, stars are lining up. Some are already household names. Others are about to be.
10. Han Xu, China
The first thing you notice with Han Xu is the size: 6-foot-9, all limbs and angles, a towering presence in the paint. The second thing is the touch.
The 26-year-old center heads to her third World Cup as a central piece of China’s frontcourt. She earned a Player of the Game nod against Brazil and averaged 12.4 points and 5.6 rebounds at the FIBA Women’s World Cup qualifier in Wuhan in March, numbers that only hint at how difficult she can be to guard when her jumper is falling.
She won’t be the only problem for Team USA when the tournament favorites open against China. Li Yueru, the Dallas Wings’ 6-7 center, will anchor the interior, and 19-year-old Zhang Ziyu — listed at 7-2 and already circled on every WNBA scout’s 2027 draft board — adds yet another layer of size.
The Americans are used to overwhelming opponents physically. Against China, that luxury disappears.
9. Megan DiLeo, Spain
FIBA’s power rankings have Spain sitting at No. 3. That projection leans heavily on Megan DiLeo.
The 6-4 center is in the finest form of her career with the Portland Fire and arrives in Berlin fresh off a starring role in Paris, where she led Spain in both scoring (18.0 points per game) and rebounding (9.3 per game). She controlled games from the interior, punished mismatches and cleaned the glass.
This will be her World Cup debut, but Spain is building around her anyway. DiLeo will anchor a younger core featuring Awa Fam and Maria Conde, a group that plays with pace and length. If Spain lives up to that lofty ranking, it will be because DiLeo turned her Olympic dominance into a World Cup platform.
8. Julie Allemand, Belgium
Belgium’s golden era doesn’t just run through Emma Meesseman. It runs through Julie Allemand’s hands.
At 5-10, the Toronto Tempo guard is one of the sharpest point guards in this tournament. She walked into the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 Qualifying Tournament in Wuhan and walked out as MVP, averaging 9.4 points, 5.6 assists and 3.4 steals per game. Her seven steals against South Sudan set an all-time single-game World Cup Qualifiers record and dragged Belgium to qualification.
Her club résumé is just as heavy. Allemand guided Fenerbahçe to the 2025-26 EuroLeague Women title and claimed Final Six MVP honors. With Belgium, she has been a constant in EuroBasket triumphs in 2023 and 2025, earning All-Star Five recognition and dictating tempo on both ends.
When Belgium’s offense hums, it’s usually because Allemand is three passes ahead of everyone else.
7. Mai Yamamoto, Japan
Mai Yamamoto is listed at 5-4, but her game doesn’t recognize the measurement.
Now a fan favorite with the Las Vegas Aces, the Japanese guard arrives in Berlin with seven senior-level FIBA competitions already on her résumé, including the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 Olympics. In Japan’s opening game in Paris — a 102-76 loss to the U.S. — she still carved out 17 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists, refusing to shrink from the moment.
Her shot is her signature. The two-handed release is unconventional, but the results are ruthless. She hit 64% from three in the 2024 Olympic qualifying tournament and 50% from deep during the World Cup qualifier in San Juan. Leave her daylight on the perimeter and she turns games in a hurry.
Japan owns a recent history of success in Asia — gold at the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup, silver in 2023 — and Yamamoto has been in the middle of it. In a tournament where spacing and shooting can topple giants, her range makes Japan dangerous.
6. Ezi Magbegor, Australia
Australia wants a third straight podium at major international events. Ezi Magbegor is the reason that goal feels realistic.
The Seattle Storm center closed the Paris Olympics with a performance that will live in the record books. In the bronze medal game, she posted 30 points on 12-of-17 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds, setting the all-time women’s Olympic basketball single-game efficiency mark.
At 6-4, Magbegor runs the floor, protects the rim and punishes defenders who give her space. She’s no longer the promising youngster learning from veterans; she is the focal point of Australia’s interior game.
If the Opals climb back onto the podium, it will be because Magbegor imposed herself again on the global stage.
5. Leonie Fiebich, Germany
Every host nation needs a heartbeat. For Germany, that’s Leonie Fiebich.
The 6-4 forward, another New York Liberty standout, brings a complete, two-way package. She stretches defenses with her shooting, competes on the glass and guards multiple positions. Her importance to Germany cannot be overstated, especially with the World Cup on home soil.
Fiebich powered Germany’s path to the 2024 Olympics with 18.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in the qualifying tournament, then made a historic Olympic debut in Paris. Now she returns to Europe with a chance to ignite a home crowd desperate for a signature moment in women’s basketball.
If Germany rides the emotion of Berlin, it will be Fiebich setting the tone.
4. Caitlin Clark, USA
Caitlin Clark enters this World Cup as a rookie in name only.
The Indiana Fever star will be the most recognizable player in the tournament, but her spot on this list isn’t about celebrity. It’s about production. Clark arrived at the World Cup Qualifying Tournament in San Juan, came off the bench in four of Team USA’s five games, and still left with MVP honors.
The U.S. went undefeated. Clark led the team with 58 points and 32 assists, bending defenses with her shooting range and passing vision. At 6-0, she sees over traps, threads passes into tight windows and punishes any defender who ducks under a screen.
With Wilson and Plum out, the American offense needs a new engine. Clark has already shown she can be that spark in international play. Berlin will test whether she can do it on the sport’s biggest stage.
3. Gabby Williams, France
Gabby Williams walks into this World Cup with a medal, a trophy case and a scar.
The Golden State Valkyries centerpiece is a star for France and one of the most versatile forwards in the game. In 2024, she captured the Alain Gilles Trophy as the best French basketball player — male or female — and then claimed FIBA Europe SuperCup MVP after guiding Fenerbahçe to the FIBA Europe title.
Then came Paris. France reached the Olympic final on home soil and lost 67-66 to Team USA in heartbreaking fashion. Williams led all scorers with 19 points, but her last-second buzzer-beater was ruled a two instead of a three. No overtime. No miracle. Just a one-point defeat that still hangs in the air.
She returns to international duty with that edge and an already stacked résumé: two Turkish Presidential Cup titles, a EuroLeague championship, a EuroLeague Final Four MVP and two EuroLeague Defensive Player of the Year awards. At 5-11, Williams can guard up, initiate offense and close games.
France will chase redemption. Williams will lead the charge.
2. Emma Meesseman, Belgium
Emma Meesseman has done almost everything in the sport. Almost.
The New York Liberty forward is the cornerstone of Belgium’s rise, the face of a program that has turned EuroBasket into its personal stage. Multiple EuroBasket titles, back-to-back Women’s EuroBasket MVP awards, two crowns with the Belgian Cats — Meesseman has stacked honors with a quiet ruthlessness.
Most recently, she carried Belgium to the 2025 FIBA Women’s EuroBasket title and took home tournament MVP. At 33, she brings a veteran calm, a mid-range game that still slices defenses apart and the kind of passing touch that unlocks shooters all over the floor.
Her club success is just as decorated. She was WNBA Finals MVP with the Washington Mystics in 2019, adding another line to an already glittering résumé.
One thing is missing: World Cup gold. That’s the mission now.
1. Breanna Stewart, USA
In Berlin, Breanna Stewart isn’t just chasing another title. She’s chasing history.
With A’ja Wilson unavailable, the New York Liberty forward becomes the anchor of Team USA, the steady hand at the center of a roster in transition. The UConn legend has been elite for so long that the milestones are starting to blur together, but this World Cup offers something singular.
Sue Bird stands alone as the only women’s basketball player with four World Cup titles. If the U.S. wins in Berlin, Stewart will join her.
The 6-3 forward already owns a World Cup MVP from 2018 and a FIBA MVP from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She made the All-Star Five at the 2022 World Cup and again at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She has done it in college, in the WNBA, in Europe, and on every major international stage.
Now, with Wilson sidelined and the rest of the world closing the gap, Stewart has a chance to redefine what dominance looks like — not as part of a superteam loaded with every American star, but as the figure who holds it all together when the margin for error shrinks.
Lawson is right. This might be the toughest World Cup the U.S. has ever tried to win.
It’s exactly the kind of stage where legends like Stewart, Meesseman, Williams and a new wave led by Clark and Yamamoto can change the shape of the sport.
