Some of the best women’s basketball players in the world came to Brooklyn last week for a USA Basketball Women’s National Team minicamp. Among the participants were five-time Olympic gold medalist Diana Taurasi and reigning Olympic champions Ariel Atkins, Napheesa Collier, Chelsea Gray, Brittney Griner, Jewell Loyd, and A’ja Wilson. Members from the gold medal-winning 2021 Olympic 3×3 team—Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, and Allisha Gray—who are all hoping for spots on this year’s 5×5 roster, also participated.
While Teresa Weatherspoon, Rebecca Lobo, and Venus Lacey were Olympic gold medalists when they joined the New York Liberty, it was not until Tina Charles in 2016 that a player on the current roster played in the Olympic Games. Next summer, there could be three, because Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, and Betnijah Laney played with the U.S. National Team at the 2022 World Cup and all participated in the training camp.
Jennifer Rizzotti, USA Basketball Women’s National Team committee chair, said the pool from which the Olympic team will be selected extends beyond the 18 players who came to Brooklyn. “It’s still very open,” said Rizzotti. “It’s an honor and a curse that we have so many good players. As a coach, I’m happy, and as a member committee chair, I know it’s going to be a really hard decision. That’s why these camps are important.”
Twelve players, Ionescu and Stewart among them, will compete at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Antwerp, Belgium, which begins today. The U.S. has already qualified for the Olympic Games in Paris thanks to winning the 2022 World Cup. The U.S. women’s team will go for an eighth consecutive gold medal and 10th overall.
There will be another training camp April 4–7 in Cleveland to coincide with the Division I Women’s Final Four. The 5×5 and 3×3 Olympic teams will be named in the late spring.
“We know we have to prepare for a lot of different styles, a lot of different sizes and versatility that we’re going to be facing,” said Rizzotti. “We want to give [head coach] Cheryl [Reeve] the best chance for her to have a roster full of players that she can mix and match, and know every game that she can go in feeling very confident that she can match our opponent. More importantly, she’s going to make it really hard for people to match up with us.”