The team that will represent the United States in the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup next month in Germany has a UConn flair.

The disclosure of the 12 players named to the roster came Thursday, announced by team director Sue Bird -- the first link to the Huskies.

The team, laden with WNBA stars, will be led by Duke women’s basketball coach Kara Lawson.

UConn alumni make up one-third of the roster: Breanna Stewart (New York Liberty), Napheesa Collier (Minnesota Lynx) and Paige Bueckers (Dallas Wings), the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year.

They will be joined in the Sept. 4-13 tournament by Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark (Indiana Fever), Kahleah Copper and Kelsey Plum (Phoenix Mercury), Chelsea Gray, A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young (Las Vegas Aces), and Rhyne Howard and Angel Reese (Atlanta Dream).

The WNBA will go on hiatus during the tournament.

"I'm so excited to announce the 2026 USA Basketball Women's National Team," said Bird, who selected the roster that was approved by the USA Basketball board of directors.

"This is an incredibly talented group that has earned the opportunity to compete in Berlin. Wearing a USA jersey is a privilege, and I know these 12 players will embrace that responsibility as we go after another gold medal. I can't wait to see what this team accomplishes together."

The United States has won 12 FIBA World Cup titles, including five in a row.

"It's great to have a team and to have a roster,” Lawson said. “It's been a long process to whittle it down to 12 players, and I think that speaks to just the talent we have in our country across the board. These 12 have earned it through their play and their consistency.”

The top finishers at the FIBA World Cup will qualify automatically for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, but that doesn’t apply to Team USA. As the host of the Summer Games, the United States has an automatic entry.

Lawson will coach that Olympic team, which is not guaranteed to be made up of the 12 women on the World Cup team. Six of the 12 players from 2022 version did not play in Paris in 2024.

This upcoming tournament will give Lawson and Bird a tremendous opportunity to get a view of 2028.

There are no guarantees, of course, but it is hard to imagine them not being part of the roster.

Stewart is one of five players who were on the team that won the 2022 World Cup title, along with Copper, Gray, Plum and Wilson. That handful of players, along with Collier and Young, were on the gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic team in Paris in 2024.

With her vast international experience, Stewart certainly would seem a lock. The two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player has won three Olympic gold medals (2016, 2020 and 2024) and will become one of only three Americans to appear in at least four World Cups. Her record is 109-9 with the U.S. women’s national team, including exhibition games.

The other two?

Former UConn greats Bird (five) and Diana Taurasi (four).

Collier is a threat at both ends of the court. In her eighth season with the Lynx, she has career averages of 18.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.2 blocks.

The 2019 WNBA Rookie of the Year, Collier is a three-time, first-team All-WNBA selection, the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year, and a four-time selection to the All-Defensive Team.

Offensively, she hit 40.3% of her 3-point attempts last season. She has played in just four games this season after recovery from injury.

Key numbers are up for Bueckers in 2026 over her rookie season. Continued growth over the 2027 season will help to state her case.

The Americans will play one game each against fellow members of their group, with the knockout round to follow. Among the teams in the U.S. group is China, the silver medalist in the 2022 event.

The U.S. starts against China (Sept. 4), Italy (Sept. 6) and the Czech Republic (Sept. 7). Group play is used for seeding purposes for the knockout round, which follows.

The U.S. most recently played Italy in 1979 and the Czechs in 2010.