Aliyah Boston headlines the invitees to USA Basketball’s national team training camp next month as the only college player alongside the nine other Tokyo Olympians that were also invited. Boston is a rising senior at South Carolina and is the projected No. 1 overall pick for the 2023 WNBA Draft.
Cheryl Reeves is the head coach of the World Cup team and will be joined by Mike Thibault, Kara Lawson, and Joni Taylor as her assistant coaches.
The training camp will take place September 6-12 in Las Vegas. An intrasquad Red-White game will headline the camp on Sept. 10 before the final roster comes out for the FIBA World Cup that runs Sept. 22-Oct. 1 in Sydney, Australia.
The following is a complete list of expected training camp participants: Ariel Atkins, Shakira Austin, Boston, Kahleah Copper, Elena Delle Donne, Diamond DeShields, Stefanie Dolson, Allisha Gray, Chelsea Gray, Dearica Hamby, Myisha Hines-Allen, Natasha Howard, Rhyne Howard, Sabrina Ionescu, Brionna Jones, Betnijah Laney, Jewell Loyd, Kayla McBride, Angel McCoughtry, Arike Ogunbowale, Kelsey Plum, Aerial Powers, NaLyssa Smith, Breanna Stewart, Alyssa Thomas, Courtney Williams, A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young.
Invitees will report “pending the conclusion of their WNBA seasons and the progression of the national team selection process,” USA Basketball said in a release.
“I am looking forward to welcoming this amazing group of athletes to a productive training camp as we prepare for the 2022 FIBA World Cup,” national team coach Cheryl Reeve said in a release. “These athletes will report to camp having just completed their WNBA seasons, and it says a lot about their competitive drive and commitment to USA Basketball that they will come to Las Vegas prepared to participate at the highest level.”
Atkins, Chelsea Gray, Loyd, Stewart, and Wilson won gold with Team USA in Tokyo. Alisha Gray, Dolson, Plum, and Young — members of the gold-medal-winning 3×3 team — will be headed to Vegas. Wilson, Stewart, Delle Donne, Loyd, Plum, and Young were members of Team USA’s World Cup team that won gold in Spain in 2018.
Delle Donne and McCoughtry didn’t play in Tokyo due to injuries but were contributors to the 2016 Olympic team in Rio de Janeiro. McCoughtry had appeared in three WNBA games in two years due to knee injuries and is currently a free agent after the Lynx bought her contract out before the season started.
This will be the first Team USA roster that won’t feature Sue Bird, and Sylvia Fowles is retiring. Tina Charles, Diana Taurasi (season-ending quad injury), Skylar Diggins-Smith (personal reasons), Napheesa Collier (played one week of basketball after giving birth in May), and Brittney Griner, who is controversially imprisoned in Russia due to drug possession and smuggling charges.
