Top Players to Watch at the 2024 FIBA Women's World Cup

Kara Lawson knew the storyline that was coming. No A’ja Wilson. No Kelsey Plum. No reigning World Cup MVP. No Olympic hero who buried 12 pressure points in Paris.

She shut it down before it could gather steam.

“We don't have time to be worried about who's not here,” the Team USA head coach said, eyes already fixed on Berlin. The rest of the world has closed the gap, she warned. This will be the hardest World Cup to win in the program’s history.

Wilson, the dominant force of the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 Olympics, is home. Plum, the fearless closer from Paris, is out as well. Their absence rips out a massive chunk of USA’s scoring, leadership and swagger.

But the World Cup doesn’t pause for anyone. On Sept. 4 in Berlin, the United States walks into a tournament loaded with elite talent, facing 15 other nations stacked with stars who have no intention of playing supporting roles in an American coronation.

Here are 10 players ready to shape this World Cup — and, in some cases, Team USA’s fate.

10. Han Xu, China – A towering problem at tip-off

Team USA’s first look at the new world order comes in the form of a 6-foot-9 sniper.

Han Xu returns for her third World Cup, fresh off a standout qualifying run in Wuhan where she averaged 12.4 points and 5.6 rebounds and picked up a Player of the Game nod against Brazil. At 26, she’s no longer a curiosity; she’s a centerpiece.

Her shooting touch at that size stretches defenses in ways few centers can. And she’s only part of China’s frontline threat. Dallas Wings center Li Yueru, at 6-7, brings more muscle, while 19-year-old Zhang Ziyu — listed at 7-2 and already drawing WNBA draft buzz for 2027 — looms as the next giant in line.

Han won’t be the only problem for Team USA in the opener. She’s just the one you see first.

9. Megan DiLeo, Spain – The engine of a contender

FIBA’s latest power rankings slot Spain at No. 3. That isn’t a reputation pick. It’s a Megan DiLeo pick.

The 6-4 center dominated the 2024 Paris Olympics for Spain, leading the team in both scoring (18.0 points per game) and rebounding (9.3 per game). She’s also in the best form of her WNBA career with the Portland Fire, a timely surge for a nation that expects to be on the podium.

This will be DiLeo’s first World Cup, but she won’t arrive as a novice. She’s the anchor of a young, ambitious group that includes Awa Fam and Maria Conde, and she gives Spain a reliable interior hub to play through when games slow down and possessions tighten.

If Spain lives up to that No. 3 billing, DiLeo will be the reason.

8. Julie Allemand, Belgium – The conductor with claws

Belgium’s rise has been built on Emma Meesseman’s brilliance, but their rhythm starts with Julie Allemand.

The 5-10 Toronto Tempo guard enters Berlin as one of the tournament’s premier point guards and as the MVP of the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 Qualifying Tournament in Wuhan. Her line there — 9.4 points, 5.6 assists, 3.4 steals per game — tells the story: she sets the table, then steals the silverware.

Against South Sudan, Allemand ripped seven steals, an all-time single-game record in World Cup Qualifiers. In EuroLeague, she took over the Final Six, winning MVP while steering Fenerbahçe to the 2025-26 title. For Belgium, she’s been central to back-to-back EuroBasket golds in 2023 and 2025, earning All-Star Five honors both times.

She doesn’t just organize Belgium. She agitates, disrupts and turns games on their head.

7. Mai Yamamoto, Japan – The smallest player, the loudest threat

At 5-4, Mai Yamamoto barely clears some of the scorers’ tables she plays in front of. She also barely misses from deep.

The Las Vegas Aces guard is a seasoned international presence with seven senior-level FIBA events already behind her, including the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 Olympics. In Japan’s Olympic opener in Paris, she dropped 17 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists in a 102-76 loss to the U.S., refusing to shrink under the brightest lights.

Her two-handed release from beyond the arc has become automatic. She torched the 2024 Olympic qualifying tournament by hitting 64% from three, then followed that with 50% shooting from distance at the World Cup qualifier in San Juan.

Japan won the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup and took silver in 2023 with Yamamoto as a key guard. Leave her an inch of daylight in Berlin and the scoreboard will move in a hurry.

6. Ezi Magbegor, Australia – A bronze medal, a historic night

Australia wants a third straight international podium. Ezi Magbegor gives them the platform to chase it.

The 6-4 Seattle Storm center left Paris with a performance for the record books in the Olympic bronze medal game. She poured in 30 points on 12-of-17 shooting, grabbed 13 rebounds and walked away as the all-time women’s Olympic single-game efficiency leader.

That kind of dominance doesn’t vanish when the tournament changes logos.

Magbegor’s blend of mobility, rim protection and interior scoring makes her a nightmare matchup. For an Opals side intent on staying among the elite, she is no longer just a rising star. She’s the standard.

5. Leonie Fiebich, Germany – The heartbeat of the hosts

Every host nation needs a player who can carry both a team and a country’s expectations. Germany has Leonie Fiebich.

The 6-4 New York Liberty forward is a two-way force and a dangerous long-range shooter, the kind of wing who can bend a defense just by standing in the corner. She powered Germany into the 2024 Olympics by averaging 18.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in qualifying, then made her Olympic debut in Paris with a sense of inevitability rather than surprise.

On home soil in Berlin, her role only grows. Fiebich is the matchup no one wants in a group stage game that suddenly feels like an elimination night.

4. Caitlin Clark, USA – The spotlight follows her

Caitlin Clark arrives at her first World Cup as the most famous player in the tournament. That’s the least interesting thing about her.

The Indiana Fever guard took MVP honors at the World Cup Qualifying Tournament in San Juan despite starting just one of Team USA’s five games. She led the team with 58 points and 32 assists, bending defenses the way she has at every level she’s touched.

Her presence changes the geometry of the floor. One step past half court is shooting range. One ball screen can turn into a layup for a teammate three passes later. With Wilson and Plum out, Clark’s playmaking and audacity become even more critical to how the U.S. attacks.

Berlin won’t be easing her in. It never does for stars like this.

3. Gabby Williams, France – Playing with a scar

France still hears the echo of that buzzer in Paris.

Gabby Williams had 19 points in the Olympic final against Team USA, leading all scorers. Her last shot — a desperate, defiant heave — splashed through, seemingly to force overtime. Officials ruled it a two instead of a three. The scoreboard froze at 67-66. Silver, not gold.

That kind of ending lingers.

The Golden State Valkyries forward returns to the international stage carrying both that memory and a résumé that keeps expanding. She won the Alain Gilles Trophy in 2024 as France’s best player, regardless of gender, and claimed FIBA Europe SuperCup MVP honors while guiding Fenerbahçe to the 2024 FIBA Europe title.

Add in two Turkish Presidential Cup crowns, a EuroLeague championship, a EuroLeague Final Four MVP and two EuroLeague Defensive Player of the Year awards, and you get the picture: Williams is a complete problem.

France doesn’t just bring talent to Berlin. It brings a grudge.

2. Emma Meesseman, Belgium – A legend chasing the missing piece

Emma Meesseman has won almost everything there is to win in the women’s game. Almost.

The New York Liberty forward has multiple EuroBasket titles with Belgium, back-to-back Women’s EuroBasket MVPs and two EuroBasket crowns with the Belgian Cats, the latest coming in 2025 when she again claimed tournament MVP honors.

Her club résumé is just as polished. She already owns a WNBA Finals MVP from 2019 with the Washington Mystics, proof that her game travels under pressure and under banners.

At 33, Meesseman arrives in Berlin with one glaring gap: a World Cup gold medal. She has the experience, the touch, the composure. Now she has a Belgian team capable of backing her up.

For Meesseman, this isn’t just another tournament. It’s a mission.

1. Breanna Stewart, USA – The anchor of an era

When the U.S. steps onto the floor without A’ja Wilson, it turns instinctively to Breanna Stewart.

The New York Liberty forward has lived at the top of the sport for so long that history is now within arm’s reach. If Team USA wins in Berlin, Stewart will tie Sue Bird as the only women’s player with four World Cup titles. Bird, now the program’s managing director, currently stands alone.

Stewart already owns a World Cup MVP from 2018 and the FIBA MVP from the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. She made the All-Star Five at the 2022 World Cup and again at the 2024 Paris Olympics, a testament to her sustained dominance on the biggest stages.

The 6-3 forward doesn’t just fill the Wilson-sized void. She redefines it. She can become the first player ever to win multiple World Cup MVP awards and, in the process, cement a legacy that stretches from UConn to the WNBA to the very top of the international game.

Lawson is right. The world is better. The path is harder. The margin for error is thinner than ever.

But with Stewart at the helm, Clark rising, and a global field stacked with stars like Meesseman, Williams and Han Xu, Berlin isn’t just another World Cup.

It’s a reckoning for who truly rules the women’s game now.