As one of six newcomers to the senior national team, former UConn women’s basketball star Paige Bueckers will help launch a new era for USA Basketball as a member of the roster for the 2026 FIBA World Cup Qualifying tournament.
The top three finishers at the tournament, which will be played from March 11-17 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, qualify for the FIBA World Cup in Germany in September. Team USA will compete against five other national teams in the qualifying tournament: Italy, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Senegal and Spain.
The U.S. has placed in the top three of every women’s World Cup since 1979, and it has won gold medals in six of the last seven tournaments including the last four straight.
Bueckers made her senior national team debut at USA Basketball training camp in December, but she has plenty of past experience competing internationally. She was the MVP of the 2019 U19 FIBA Women’s World Cup and won gold medals at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, the 2018 FIBA U17 World Cup and the 2017 FIBA Americas U16 Championship. She also played alongside active WNBA players in 3-on-3 at the 2019 World Beach Games.
“To be back here representing my country … this is every kid’s dream,” Bueckers said ahead of the December training camp. “To be able to do that at the highest level on the national team and to get that invite, it meant a whole lot … Growing up watching all the legends before me play and represent the country in a great way and bring back that gold, it’s something you aspire to be.”
Former UConn star Paige Bueckers high-fives Caitlin Clark during USA Basketball training camp at Duke University in Dec. 2025.
Though Bueckers is a newcomer to the senior team, she competed with several other members of the qualifying tournament roster on Team USA at the youth level. Indiana Fever stars Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark played with Bueckers on the junior national teams that won gold at the 2019 U19 World Cup and 2017 U16 FIBA AmeriCup, and Atlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard was also on the U19 World Cup squad.
Bueckers is the only UConn alumna on the roster announced Wednesday, but several of Team USA’s biggest stars are not competing in the qualifying tournament. Huskies legends Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier won’t play in Puerto Rico but are all but guaranteed spots on the World Cup roster, as are four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson and six-time All-Star Alyssa Thomas.
Bueckers will join Team USA shortly after concluding her first season competing in Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 league founded by Stewart and Collier in 2025. Bueckers currently leads the league in assists averaging 6.7 per game on top of 25 points and 6.3 rebounds. The former Huskies star is also coming off of a spectacular first year in the WNBA, where she was named the league’s Rookie of the Year averaging 19.2 points, 5.4 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals for the Dallas Wings.
