In a stunning announcement that immediately sent tremors across women’s basketball, USA Basketball revealed that ten rising stars will make their senior national team camp debuts next month, headlined by the explosive duo of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, along with fellow phenoms Paige Bueckers and JuJu Watkins. The program will host its high-stakes training camp from Dec. 12–14 on the campus of Duke University — and all eyes will be locked on the gym where the future of Team USA is about to take shape.
This camp marks the first major personnel evaluation overseen by Sue Bird, newly appointed national team managing director, who will use the Duke gathering to assess talent ahead of selecting the roster for the 2026 FIBA World Cup. And she won’t be short on choices. Joining the list of first-time invitees are Lauren Betts, Cameron Brink, Sonia Citron, Rickea Jackson, Veronica Burton, and Kiki Iriafen, creating one of the most talent-dense rookie groups in recent memory. For many of these players, this camp isn’t just an opportunity — it’s a battlefield for claiming the attention of one of the sharpest basketball minds in the world.
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New national team head coach Kara Lawson, who also leads Duke’s powerhouse program, will run the camp alongside WNBA coaches Natalie Nakase, Stephanie White, and Nate Tibbetts, forming a coaching unit with championship pedigree and player-development expertise. They will be overseeing an 18-player roster stacked with both emerging stars and established legends.
Among the veterans attending are Brittney Griner, Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum, Kahleah Copper, Jackie Young, and Dearica Hamby — a group that collectively carries Olympic gold, World Cup titles, and years of WNBA dominance. Sharing the floor with these icons will be former No. 1 overall pick Aliyah Boston and Brionna Jones, a standout on the 2022 World Cup championship team, both of whom were named to the training squad and are expected to bring immediate physicality and leadership to the camp.
The talent pipeline has never looked this loaded.
Seven of the 18 athletes — Clark, Bueckers, Watkins, Brink, Betts, Boston, and Citron — have already tasted gold as junior Team USA competitors. Meanwhile, Betts, Boston, Burton, Jackson, and Reese carry FIBA Women’s AmeriCup experience into the gym, giving them an edge in international systems and physicality. For Kiki Iriafen, this will be her first time wearing USA colors, adding even more intrigue to a camp where every drill will be scrutinized.
While USC superstar JuJu Watkins won’t participate on the court as she continues to recover from her ACL tear in March, her presence at camp underscores how deeply invested USA Basketball is in the long-term development of its youngest generational star. She’ll observe, learn, and integrate into the national program — a strategic move signaling her importance in future cycles.
This three-day camp at Duke is shaping up to be far more than a traditional training session. It’s a convergence of eras: Olympic champions meeting rising icons, college phenoms stepping into the fire for the first time, and a new leadership group evaluating the next decade of American dominance. The stakes are enormous, the pressure unavoidable, and the storylines impossible to ignore.
With the world watching and the 2026 World Cup creeping closer, one question looms over Durham:
Which of these young stars will seize this moment and force Team USA to rewrite its future?
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