Sue Bird Says Olivia Miles 'Undoubtedly' in Mix for USA Teams

Sue Bird said Olivia Miles will be in the mix for future USA Basketball rosters, and said no rule requires a player to attend a national team camp to be selected for one.

Miles was not among the 12 players named to the U.S. roster for next month's FIBA World Cup, which USA Basketball announced Thursday morning. Bird, the managing director of the women's national team, took questions on Zoom afterward.

Bird said Miles has played for USA Basketball before.

"I'll answer the second one first. Yeah, Olivia, tremendous player," Bird said. "So much fun to watch. It's been amazing watching her grow in this league. Obviously we're here to focus on the players that made the team."

Bird said the depth of the player pool is the hardest part of the job and a problem she would never trade.

"So back to Olivia. Like, yeah, I mean, you guys know, it's a talented pool of players," Bird explained. "We know people are gonna get left off. She's such a great young player. There is no — in terms of criteria, there is no rule that you have to be in a camp. What being in camps and what being on, you know, we went to Puerto Rico for the qualifier. What that does is it allows me and everybody else to see these players in the USA Basketball environment. It allows us to see them under Kara Lawson and her system. So of course it's an important piece. It's not a necessity. It's not a requirement.

"As far as Olivia goes, she's played with USA Basketball before," Bird added. "She will undoubtedly be in the mix for teams in the future."

Miles did not attend either evaluation camp. The first was held in December at Duke University, while she was playing her senior season at TCU. The second came in April at the Phoenix Final Four, six days before the draft.

Minnesota selected Miles second overall in the 2026 draft, behind Azzi Fudd. Miles played three full seasons at Notre Dame, missed one with a knee injury, and transferred to TCU for 2025-26, where she was named Big 12 Player of the Year.

Through her first 26 games as a professional, Miles led all rookies in scoring at 19.3 points a game, in made field goals at 6.8, and in assists at 6.0. She has reached double figures in every game of her career. She was the only rookie named an All-Star starter this season, and she was named Rookie of the Month for July after also winning the award for June. In June she averaged 21.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 5.6 assists.

Miles became the first player in WNBA history to record 400 points, 100 rebounds, and 100 assists within her first 22 games. Her career high of 33 points came against Phoenix earlier this season.

Minnesota has the best record in the league. Miles scored 28 points, with four rebounds and six assists, in a 108-100 win over Indiana that gave the Lynx their 10th straight victory, the franchise's longest winning streak since 2016.

Napheesa Collier, Miles' teammate in Minnesota, made the Berlin roster. Collier missed the first 10 weeks of the season after surgery on both ankles and returned July 22.

Four players on the World Cup roster will make a first USA appearance at a major international competition: Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese, and Aliyah Boston. Bueckers, Clark, and Reese were on the March qualifying-tournament roster that went 5-0 in Puerto Rico, with Clark named MVP. Boston was named to that team before an injury kept her out.

Bird said she is not thinking about the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles in any concrete way, and said two years is long enough that this roster is no indicator of that one.

The U.S. opens against China on Sept. 4 in Berlin, then plays Italy on Sept. 6 and the Czech Republic on Sept. 7. The tournament runs Sept. 4-13, and the WNBA season pauses Aug. 31 through Sept. 16.