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Team USA Begins Quest for Fifth FIBA Women’s World Cup Title
Team USA’s hunt for a fifth straight FIBA Women’s World Cup crown starts now, stripped of some of its biggest stars but loaded with the next wave of headliners.
On Friday, Sept. 4, the Americans open Group D play against China in Berlin, the first step in a campaign that has become less a tournament run and more an expectation. Team USA has owned this stage for decades, winning nine of the last 12 FIBA Women’s World Cups and the last four in a row. Every other nation arrives hoping to disrupt the order. The United States arrives expected to enforce it.
A new generation, same standard
This year’s team carries a different kind of intrigue. Kara Lawson takes the reins on the sideline, guiding a roster that leans heavily into the sport’s future: Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers and a cast of rising American talents asked to uphold a dynasty.
They do it without two of the program’s most reliable pillars.
Four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, the dominant force and MVP of the 2022 World Cup, is out due to health reasons. So is Kelsey Plum, another proven winner and scorer on the international stage. Those absences change the shape of the rotation and the hierarchy of the locker room. They do not change the expectation.
For Clark, Reese, Bueckers and their peers, this is not a gentle introduction to international basketball. It’s a pressure cooker. The bar is gold, nothing less.
China shorthanded, but dangerous
China arrives with its own setback. Two-time Olympian and Dallas Wings center Li Yueru, a central figure in China’s silver-medal run at the 2022 World Cup, will not play in Berlin. A lost passport in the mail has kept her from traveling, an almost surreal administrative blow for a team that had every reason to believe it would challenge again.
Her absence strips China of size, experience and a player who understands how to handle the Americans on this stage. It also forces the Chinese staff into late tactical adjustments, just as Lawson has had to reshape her plans without Wilson and Plum.
Even so, this is not a soft opening for the United States. China remains one of the few programs that consistently pushes Team USA physically and tactically. In a short tournament, one off quarter can drag a favorite into trouble.
The road through Berlin
Group D features USA, China, Italy and Czechia. Only the group winner walks straight into the quarterfinals. Second and third place must survive an extra knockout date.
The opener against China is the tone-setter:
- Date: Friday, Sept. 4
- Time: 8:15 a.m. ET (5:15 a.m. PT)
- Location: Max-Schmeling-Halle, Berlin
The broadcast spotlight matches the stakes. TNT holds exclusive U.S. English-language rights, with all 36 tournament games streaming on HBO Max. Seventeen games, including every Team USA appearance, will air on TNT and truTV.
Team USA’s Group D schedule:
- Friday, Sept. 4: USA vs. China | TNT, truTV, HBO Max (8 a.m. ET)
- Sunday, Sept. 6: USA vs. Italy | TNT, HBO Max (2:30 p.m. ET)
- Monday, Sept. 7: USA vs. Czechia | TNT, HBO Max (2:30 p.m. ET)
Win the group, and the Americans move directly to the quarterfinals on Thursday, Sept. 10 (TNT, truTV). Slip to second or third, and they drop into the Playoff Qualification Round on Tuesday, Sept. 8 (truTV), a sudden-death hurdle to secure one of the last four quarterfinal spots.
From there, the tournament accelerates. Semifinals arrive on Saturday, Sept. 12 (TBS, truTV). The third-place game and final close the show on Sunday, Sept. 13 (TNT, truTV).
A dynasty in transition
This World Cup is not just about whether Team USA can win again. It’s about how.
Can a roster fronted by college-era icons and emerging pros carry the same ruthless edge that Wilson and her generation brought to every possession? Can Lawson, in charge of a group that already lives in the spotlight, keep them grounded through the inevitable run of blowouts and the one or two nights when the shots don’t fall?
The answers start to form in Berlin on Friday morning, when a shorthanded giant meets a shorthanded challenger and the next chapter of a dynasty either takes shape—or takes a hit.
