A few days before the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, Team USA suffered a major setback. Any coach would have had to reconsider their strategy if superstars like A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum had pulled out of the competition, but USABWNT head coach Kara Lawson seems unfazed. In fact, the coach has already “moved on” from her two veteran players.
Many fans got skeptical about Team USA’s prospects of winning the gold medal when Wilson and Plum decided not to compete in the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup. During a press conference before the tournament’s start in Berlin, Germany, Lawson expressed her honest reaction to Wilson and Plum’s exclusion from Team USA.
The head coach made that as apparent as a coach can three days before the tournament’s first game.
Lawson said, “Both of them obviously have been great players for us, and I’ll miss being around them, but ultimately, we’ve kind of moved on… We don’t have time to be worried about who’s not here. We’ve got to really focus on ourselves.”
Wilson’s persistent back problems caused her to withdraw from the Team USA squad. Plum’s situation is much worse because she will miss the rest of the WNBA season due to a lower-leg and calf ailment. She also withdrew from the Team USA lineup after that.
Wilson had been playing despite injuries to lead the Aces in the WNBA. A source close to the matter told ESPN‘s Alexa Philippou that the four-time WNBA MVP “has not been 100% for some time,” and there was concern that the demanding World Cup schedule might make things worse.
Wilson told The Dunker Spot that sitting out “has been a thought of mine.”
Meanwhile, due to a lower-leg ailment, Plum played only 17 games this summer. The Phoenix Mercury guard ended her WNBA season after declaring on Instagram that she had “run out of time” for her recovery.
Plum shared a message on her Instagram stories on August 31, 2026, saying, “I did everything I could to be back on the court, but just ran out of time.”
Team USA’s World Cup lineup is now without two of its most experienced players. Plum and Wilson have both played key roles for the national team, winning FIBA gold medals. Lawson’s comments took many fans aback because Wilson and Plum had been key members of Team USA in the previous two tournaments.
Wilson is the current MVP of the Olympics, the WNBA Finals, the WNBA, and the 2022 World Cup. The current Las Vegas Aces center participated in the last two World Cups and two Olympics. Meanwhile, Plum made her international championship debut at the 2018 World Cup.
Lawson said during the same press conference that USA Basketball managing director Sue Bird was in charge of the withdrawal decision and that she did not speak with Wilson directly about it.
“I didn’t have any conversation with A’ja… I don’t have a timeline. We’ll miss being around them … We wish them both a speedy recovery… but we don’t have time to be worried about who’s not here,” Lawson added.
The full quote from Kara Lawson of A’Ja Wilson & Kelsey Plum’s late injury withdrawing from USA’s FIBA Women’s World Cup team.
“I didn’t have any conversation with A’Ja. That was more with more with Birdie (Sue Bird).”
🎥 @TWDTV1https://t.co/WOOnIqzlcapic.twitter.com/nSndh1Alob
— Andrew Jerell Jones, Luke 1:37 (BlueSky too now) (@sluggahjells) September 1, 2026
Washington Mystics teammates Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen have been called up to the USA team to defend their championship in the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup. They will be replacing two-time World Cup winners Plum and Wilson on the 12-woman U.S. roster.
Citron and Iriafen are set to make their senior global championship debuts. Also making debuts besides the Mystics duo are Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, and Caitlin Clark.