Paige Bueckers did not talk like a player expecting the ball every possession when USA Basketball published her comments three days before the FIBA Women's World Cup opener. She talked like someone who has already been told the job description.
"It's all about sacrifice," Bueckers said in the feature Dallas Sports Journal cited Tuesday. "It's all about winning, and it's all about everybody on this team as a superstar in their own right. Everybody can score 20, 30 points a night, but what can you do to contribute to winning?
And what can you do to sacrifice? Everybody's going to have to buy in. We're going to have to put whoever we are on our individual teams aside and really do whatever the team needs us to do."
The United States opens Group D against China on Friday at 7:15 a.m. CT in Berlin on TNT, truTV and HBO Max. Italy follows Sunday at 1:45 p.m. CT and Czechia on Monday at 1:45 p.m. CT, both on TNT. The tournament runs through Sept. 13. The WNBA pause lasts until mid-September; the Wings return Sept. 17 against the Los Angeles Sparks.
Youth movement with a veteran checklist
Bueckers arrives as part of a youth wave that includes Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Aliyah Boston in their first major senior international event, a shift USA Basketball managing director Sue Bird framed around complementary pieces when the original 12-player roster was announced Aug. 6.
Monday's health withdrawals of A'ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum, replaced by Washington Mystics teammates Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen, leaned the group younger still. Chelsea Gray, 33, remains the oldest player and one of three holdovers from the 2022 World Cup gold-medal team still on the roster after those changes.
Wings coach José Fernández is serving as a scout coach alongside Duke's Tia Jackson. Kara Lawson is the head coach, with Natalie Nakase, Nate Tibbetts and Stephanie White as assistants. Fernández's presence ties the national-team staff directly to the franchise Bueckers has led in scoring and assists this season.
Bueckers has averaged 20.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.9 assists in 38 games for Dallas, per Dallas Sports Journal. The Wings are 24-16 and clinched a playoff berth Aug. 25. She played alongside Gray at the March qualifying tournament in San Juan, where the United States went 5-0 in her first competitive senior national-team appearance.
"I've always looked up to Chelsea Gray and getting to play with her at the World Cup Qualifying Tournament was so much fun," Bueckers said. "There's so much I can learn from her."
No entitlement, even with the torch in view
In comments to The Associated Press carried by CBS Texas on Wednesday, Bueckers rejected the idea that her generation is owed the next decade of USA Basketball simply because Bird and Diana Taurasi have moved on.
