Sue Bird announced the 12-player Women’s National Team roster for the upcoming 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup on Thursday. However, the announcement immediately sparked a debate around the players who earned their spot on the team. Dallas Cowboys legend Dez Bryant was among the many who had reservations about the selections.
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He believed two names in particular, Minnesota Lynx rookie Olivia Miles and Indiana Fever veteran guard Kelsey Mitchell, deserved a spot on the roster. “Olivia Miles and Kelsey Mitchell belong on this team!” Bryant wrote in response to Yahoo Sports’ X post of the full 12-player roster.
Considering what both players have produced this season, the argument is not a difficult one to make. Olivia Miles is currently having one of the most historic rookie campaigns in WNBA history.
Minnesota Lynx sit at the top of the league standings with a 25-7 record, and she has been a central force in that. Despite Napheesa Collier missing the first 27 games of this season, Miles helped her team thrive. She’s averaging 19.7 points, 5.8 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game. And she has now won the Rookie of the Month award for three consecutive months and remains firmly on track to claim the Rookie of the Year.
Kelsey Mitchell has been equally impressive. She is averaging a career-high 24.1 points per game, which places her second in the entire league in scoring. She also won the July Eastern Conference Player of the Month honours for the first time in her career on August 5, joining teammate Caitlin Clark. Despite all of that, she finds herself on the outside looking in, alongside Miles.
However, the players who made the roster have also been exceptional in their own right, and Sue Bird believes that’s the best kind of problem to have.
“I knew taking this job that I’d be sitting here one day talking to you all about whatever player it was who didn’t get selected, and it’s the hard part. It’s also, I guess, the best problem to have because of all the talent.”
True to Bird’s statement, considering this season’s performances and statistics, strong cases can also be made for Toronto Tempo guard Marina Mabrey and New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu, both of whom many also believed should have made the roster.
Ultimately, according to Bird, the managing director of the USA Basketball Women’s National Team, the focus was on assembling a team whose pieces fit together.
“The makeup of the roster is pretty straightforward. Just wanting to have a good mixture of people with experience, of people with youth. Obviously, that sets us up for the future as well. But also a team that complements each other and can go on the court and win gold,” Bird told reporters.
Team USA will be competing in the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup as defending champions, having won the last four editions of the tournament. However, there’s still some time left before the tournament starts on September 4 in Berlin, Germany.