Kahleah Copper and Kelsey Plum Selected to USA Basketball Women's National Team for the 2026 FIBA World Cup
WNBA Phoenix Mercury

Kahleah Copper and Kelsey Plum Selected to USA Basketball Women's National Team for the 2026 FIBA World Cup

Published on August 6, 2026 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Phoenix Mercury News Release


PHOENIX - Phoenix Mercury guard/forward Kahleah Copper and guard Kelsey Plum have been named to the USA Basketball Women's National Team roster for the 2026 FIBA Women's World Cup, USA Basketball announced today. The tournament will be held in Berlin, Germany from Sept. 4-13. Copper and Plum will be joined by Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts, who will serve as an assistant coach on head coach Kara Lawson's staff.

Copper, who won gold medals with USA Basketball at the 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2022 FIBA World Cup, averaged 9.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists while shooting 55.5% from the field and 41.7% from three during the 2022 tournament in Sydney, Australia. Copper ranks fifth in the WNBA in scoring this season, averaging a career-high 21.0 points along with 3.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists across 31 games. She is one of five players, including Plum, with a 40+ point performance in 2026.

Plum, a two-time FIBA World Cup gold medalist (2018, 2022) and two-time Olympic gold medalist (2020: 3x3, 2024: 5x5) will look to capture her fifth gold medal with Team USA in Berlin. In the 2022 FIBA World Cup, she averaged 15.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists, shooting 51.6% from the field, 40.0% from beyond the arc and 90.5% from the free throw line. In 14 games this season, Plum is averaging a career-high 23.3 points and 6.1 assists along with 2.3 rebounds. In her Mercury debut against the Chicago Sky on August 3, she scored 20 points in Phoenix's win.

The USA Women's National Team is seeking its fifth consecutive and 12th overall FIBA World Cup gold medal. Copper and Plum's selections mark the fourth time in franchise history that the Mercury have had multiple players on Team USA's FIBA World Cup roster, joining Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi (2018), Candice Dupree, Griner and Taurasi (2014), and Dupree and Taurasi (2010).

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