{"id":875192,"date":"2026-08-31T16:28:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T16:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/875192\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T16:28:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T16:28:14","slug":"aja-wilson-kelsey-plum-out-of-fiba-world-cup-for-health-reasons-usas-updated-roster-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/875192\/","title":{"rendered":"A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum Out of FIBA World Cup for Health Reasons, USA’s Updated Roster Revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

USA Basketball announced<\/a> Monday that Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson and Phoenix Mercury guard Kelsey Plum won’t compete in the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup due to health reasons.<\/p>\n

The Washington Mystics’ Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen will fill the two open spots in the 12-player squad.<\/p>\n

Wilson is a significant loss. She’s headed in all likelihood toward her fifth WNBA MVP, having averaged 26.0 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.0 blocks through 37 games with Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old has been a standout performer for the national team as well. She was the MVP of the 2022 World Cup and 2024 Summer Olympics as the United States captured gold in both events.<\/p>\n

Plum has battled injuries throughout the 2026 season and had to adjust to a new setting following her trade from the Los Angeles Sparks. She averaged 21.5 points and 5.4 assists in 17 appearances, with the Mercury confirming<\/a> she’s shut down for the remainder of the year.<\/p>\n

Wilson and Plum’s exits provide a silver lining as Citron and Iriafen are two young stars who could contribute to Team USA for many years ahead. They’re both two-time All-Stars and have played critical roles in clinching Washington’s first playoff berth since 2023. <\/p>\n

It was only a matter of time before Citron and Iriafen represented the U.S. in a major tournament, so Monday’s news hastened the inevitable.<\/p>\n

Despite missing Wilson and Plum, the United States will still head into the World Cup as the favorite. It boasts more talent than any other country with a roster headlined by Paige Bueckers, Napheesa Collier and Caitlin Clark.<\/p>\n

Team USA will tip off the tournament Friday against China.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"USA Basketball announced Monday that Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson and Phoenix Mercury guard Kelsey Plum won’t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":875193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-875192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}