A'ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum will miss the FIBA Women's World Cup for health reasons and will be replaced by Washington teammates Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron, USA Basketball announced Monday.
Wilson, the four-time WNBA MVP, has shouldered quite a workload in the first part of the season for the Las Vegas Aces and needed a break to rest and get ready for the playoffs. She was voted the most outstanding player of the 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2022 World Cup. She will be sorely missed by the United States.
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Plum has been dealing with a calf injury for most of the WNBA season and it still hasn't 100% healed. She was a catalyst in the Paris Games gold-medal contest against France and sparked the Americans to the one-point victory.
In a statement posted Monday to Instagram, Plum said: “I did everything I could to be back on the court, but just ran out of time. After careful consideration and conversations with my family, team doctors, coaching staff, and front office, the decision has been made to shut it down through (the) remainder of the season and focus on getting my body back to 100% ... This is not an easy decision as I love to compete, but I know it’s the right one for the long term.”
Iriafen and Citron were both part of U.S. camps this past winter. Iriafen played on the American team that went to Puerto Rico and won the World Cup qualifier. Citron had to miss that tournament because of an injury, so she'll be making her national team debut in Germany.
The Americans have won every World Cup since finishing with the bronze medal in 2006. That World Cup saw American star Lisa Leslie pull out at the last minute because of a car accident that her uncle was in. Without her, the U.S. fell to Russia in the semifinals.
Without the two veteran players, the U.S. will rely even more heavily on its youth movement. Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers will make their World Cup debut. The young stars will be joined by Olympic medalists Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier, Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young and Kahleah Copper.
Rhyne Howard and Aliyah Boston will also be making their World Cup debuts to round out the team.
The U.S. opens against China on Friday. The Chinese team has a huge front line with 7-foot-3 Zhang Ziyu, 6-10 Han Xu and 6-7 Li Yueru. The two teams played for the World Cup title in 2022 in Australia.
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
