The last time Paige Bueckers put on a Team USA jersey, she hadn’t yet begun her senior year of high school.
Bueckers was a star on the international youth circuit, winning four gold medals with USA Basketball before she turned 18. She was the MVP of the 2019 U19 FIBA Women’s World Cup and played alongside active WNBA players in 3-on-3 at the 2019 World Beach Games. But the national team took a back seat during Bueckers’ career with the UConn women’s basketball team, especially as injuries limited her opportunities in between college seasons.
Now, more than six years later and on the heels of a historic rookie season in the WNBA, Bueckers will make her debut with the U.S. senior national team during training camp this week in Durham, North Carolina. The camp begins the process of deciding the final 12-player roster for the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup next September.
“To be back here representing my country … this is every kid’s dream,” Bueckers said during a Zoom press conference Thursday. “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.”
Bueckers is one of 10 players on the training camp roster making their first appearances with the 5-on-5 senior team, but she has competed with several of them previously in the USA Basketball system. Indiana Fever stars Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark and Los Angeles Sparks center Cameron Brink all played together on the junior national team that won gold at the 2019 U19 World Cup. Boston and Brink also earned a gold medal with Bueckers at the 2018 U17 World Cup, and Boston and Clark were her teammates on the squad that won the 2017 U16 FIBA AmeriCup.
“I think we all really bring the best out of each other, and I think that’s what USA Basketball does. It’s just so many amazing athletes and women coming together for one common goal,” Bueckers said. “There is a familiarity of competing with and against each other, so … it’s more comfortable that way where we’re all coming in and having the same expectations of just wanting to go in there and compete, have fun, bring our vibes and kind of just be us.”
This July 27, 2019, photo, provided by USA Basketball, shows Belgium’s Emmeline Leblon, left, and USA’s Paige Bueckers during the Women’s Basketball World Cup, in Bangkok, Thailand. UConn lost star Megan Walker a year earlier than anticipated to the WNBA, but the young Huskies remain a favorite to compete for a 12th national title with a group of underclassman led by much-hyped freshman Paige Bueckers. (FIBA via AP)
Bueckers has another existing relationship with Team USA coach Kara Lawson, who is also making her debut as head coach at this week’s training camp. Lawson coached Bueckers in 3-on-3 basketball at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, leading a squad that also included Boston and Chicago Sky guard Hailey Van Lith to gold in the event. Lawson also leads the Duke women’s basketball team and coached against Bueckers at UConn in the Sweet 16 of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Bueckers said she’s excited to work with Lawson again, but also to pick the brains of the WNBA head coaches serving as assistants. Fever coach Stephanie White, Golden State Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase and Phoenix Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts were all selected as court coaches for Lawson’s first camp at the helm.
“I think they’re really bright basketball minds, and I can tell that by competing against them,” Bueckers said. “I’ve been a fan of all of them, so to be on on the same side will be pretty refreshing. To be able to soak up and learn from them and ask them questions — and give them a tough time too, talk a little smack, it’ll be fun.”
UConn coach Geno Auriemma previously coached the senior national team from 2009-16, leading the USA to three Olympic gold medals and two FIBA World Cup championship during his tenure. Huskies legends Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi were centerpieces on all of Auriemma’s national teams, and he said Bueckers has the potential to fill a leadership void in backcourt as USA Basketball goes through a transitional period.
“Playing on a national team involves a lot of awareness: Being self-aware, knowing who you are, what you are, and knowing that you might have a different role than you have on the team that you’re playing on regularly,” Auriemma said. “Since Sue retired, there really hasn’t been a clear-cut here’s the successor, here’s the next person that can take over this team and be able to be able to lead a lot of veteran players. I think someone’s going to emerge, whether that’s Paige or someone else … Maybe she’s too young or maybe she’s ready, I don’t know. But I do know she has all the things that that she needs.”
Bird, who retired from professional basketball in 2022, remains deeply involved with USA Basketball as the recently-appointed managing director of the senior national team. With so many young players participating and a first-time coaching staff, Bird said her goal for this training camp is to acclimate all the newcomers to the culture that comes with representing Team USA.
“I think you have to set the tone on day 1,” Bird said. “This is the first time everybody’s together, and you want to have a sense of clarity on what our identity is going to be … For the young players, it’s a great opportunity to get their first feel, get their first taste.”
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