The 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup will take place next September in Berlin, and one can guess that Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark should be making their debuts for the senior national team on the world stage.
Bueckers and Clark notably just played at USA Basketball’s Women’s National Team camp last December alongside 15 other top American players.
So with that in mind, Kylie Kelce (via her Not Gonna Lie podcast) asked Bueckers in an interview that dropped Thursday about how cool it’s been to play with Clark and the entire group of world-class talents (45:48 mark).
“Yeah, it’s been cool,” Bueckers said.
“I think a lot of us, me and Caitlin even played together on the junior Olympic level when we were younger. I mean, we were in high school, and it was always a fun time, and we all played really well together. I still feel we had one of the best U-16 or U-17 teams to ever exist, and to see it all come into fruition of us all living out our dreams and what we talked about and what we’ve worked for, and to get to the pros and God-willing we all want to represent USA at the Olympic level, we feel like that’s the highest level that we can represent ourselves in our country.
“So, yeah, it’s crazy ’cause everybody’s pinned me and Caitlin against each other for the longest time, and we’re cool. We’re friends, but again, it’s respect to the competition, so we understand how media works and how they want to pin two people against each other, and they’re supposed to hate each other and blah, blah, blah. So we all understand that and it’s all in the love of the game, but at the same time, to have two fanbases that really hate each other have to come together for a couple months, it would be really fun. And so everybody would just have to get along for a little bit.”
Clark, who was selected first overall by the Indiana Fever in the 2024 WNBA draft, has showcased her tremendous talent over 53 pro contests in two seasons, averaging 18.5 points, 8.5 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game. She earned Rookie of the Year and All-WNBA First Team honors during her 2024 rookie season as well.
The former Iowa star dealt with numerous injuries during the 2025 season and played just 13 games. However, she’s back on the court now and at “100 percent” health, per comments to reporters at USA Basketball senior national team.
Bueckers, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA draft by the Dallas Wings, dominated in her first year in the league, averaging 19.2 points, 5.4 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game. The 2025 Rookie of the Year made the All-Star Game and earned All-WNBA Second Team honors as well. In addition, she authored one of the best individual games of any player this past season when she dropped 44 points on 17-of-21 shooting against the Los Angeles Sparks.
A Clark-Bueckers backcourt combo could be a nightmare for teams on the world stage, and Team USA is already deep at guard as is with other stars such as Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young. Ultimately, Team USA looks loaded again as it searches for its fifth straight World Cup and 12th overall.