The world is chasing the Americans. Plus: Fifth years can return in NCAA?

On Sep 1, 2026

No Offseason Newsletter 🏀 | This is The Athletic’s women’s basketball newsletter. Sign up here to receive No Offseason directly in your inbox.

Good morning! It’s FIBA World Cup time. Coming up:

🤕 Wilson out
💭 Your MVP thoughts
🏀 NCAA ruling

Planned Pause: Wait, what happened to the WNBA?

WNBA fans are accustomed to the league taking a break every four years for the Olympics, but this is the first time the league will press pause for the World Cup, which tips off this week in Berlin and runs through Sept. 13. As a result, the WNBA won’t pick back up until Sept. 17, when every team begins a four-game sprint to finish the regular season.

The league has previously been able to squeeze its schedule in before the World Cup, but with an early start date and a longer WNBA calendar (for reference, the 2022 tournament began on Sept. 22, when the WNBA schedule was 36 games instead of 44), 2026 required some creativity.

However, this is the last time that the WNBA will be inconvenienced by FIBA scheduling, as the 2030 World Cup has already been slated for November. The WNBA may not have had enough clout in previous years to bend the world’s calendar to its will, but it does now: More and more of the world’s best players suit up in this league, European leagues are moving their fall/winter seasons to end before the WNBA begins and even FIBA is moving its world championship to accommodate the W.

Here are the FIBA World Cup basics, but we’ll look at the field in-depth now …

World Cup Preview: Team USA is the heavy favorite

The U.S. is a heavy favorite to capture the gold medal for the fifth consecutive tournament at this year’s World Cup. Seven of the team’s 12 players were All-WNBA selections in 2024 and/or 2025. No other country’s roster has even one All-WNBA player.

However, the U.S. roster no longer includes reigning back-to-back MVP A’ja Wilson, who opted out of the tournament due to health reasons, along with Kelsey Plum. The Americans plugged in two All-Stars in their place (Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron), but it’s hard to replace Wilson, the best player alive who led Team USA in scoring at the last three major international competitions.

The rest of the world now has a window to dethrone the Americans. Here is what to know about the field:

France was a possession away from defeating the Americans at the Paris Olympics in 2024 and returns much of that same squad. Gabby Williams leads a group with a deeper perimeter crew (hello Carla Leite and Pauline Astier!) and a more seasoned Dominique Malonga.
Belgium is the defending European champion, and now has a healthy Julie Allemand to rejoin Emma Meesseman, the best player not currently playing in the WNBA. They’re coached by a familiar face in Mike Thibault, who was an assistant on Team USA in 2024 and a WNBA champion with the Mystics in 2019, when Meesseman was the finals MVP.
Germany is unlucky to be without three-time WNBA All-Star Satou Sabally, who will miss the tournament and the rest of the WNBA season with a head injury. The German hosts lacked offensive firepower in recent competitions, and even homecourt advantage might not make up for Sabally’s absence.
Australia has eight WNBA players and two-time WNBA champion coach Sandy Brondello. The Opals (isn’t it great when every national team has its own nickname?) won bronze at the 2022 World Cup and the Paris Olympics.
No team leans into pace and space like Japan, while their Chinese neighbors rely on the height and skill of their interior presence in Li Yueru and Han Xu. Nigeria has been an up-and-comer on the international scene and played the USA tight in Paris.

Who do you have your eye on in the World Cup? And who will be Team USA’s MVP with Wilson out of the picture? Let us know your thoughts at NoOffseason@theathletic.com.

Fast Breaks

🏀 The Sky are shutting down Skylar Diggins for the final four games of their season while she focuses on injury recovery. Diggins, who started in all 19 games she appeared in for the Sky, has not played since July, when she was relegated to coming off the bench.

💬 Sky guard Natasha Cloud declined to say Enes Kanter Freedom’s name while talking to reporters for the first time since the two got into a verbal altercation. “I won’t be talking about anything that happened with an irrelevant person.” What she talked about instead.

🏆 The Valkyries have the best chance to win it all, according to The Athletic’s 2026 WNBA projections. The Lynx follow with the second-best odds.

🩼 Aces starter NaLyssa Smith is out for the season. How does Las Vegas react?

🖊️ DeWanna Bonner isn’t done yet. The 17-year WNBA veteran is signing with the Dream (26-14) for the remainder of the season.

💰 After a round of funding, the professional three-on-three league Unrivaled said its new valuation is $650 million.

🏀 Meet Jose Fernandez, the cage-rattling coach challenging Paige Bueckers and resurrecting the Wings.

🎙️ On the “No Offseason” pod, Zena and Sabreena talk World Cup and which WNBA teams have the most at stake down the stretch. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Awards Watch: One more MVP check-in

The MVP race remains fascinating. Even with no games for the next two weeks, it’ll be top of mind.

Wilson’s statistical case is impeccable, even as she deals with a back injury. Olivia Miles’ team is still atop the WNBA standings, even if the Lynx (31-9) have experienced some slippage. Kelsey Mitchell keeps scoring 20-plus points every game (and Caitlin Clark does most games, too, with the additional playmaking), while Breanna Stewart and Rhyne Howard (or maybe Angel Reese?) could power late-season runs for their squads.

We asked you for your MVP thoughts last week, and you did not disappoint.

The newsletter readers’ case for Wilson:

“Does so much at both ends of the floor for a team that would be nowhere near co-favorites for the title this year without her.” — Peter B.
“She’s a two-way player, dominant on offense and defense. She continues to lead her team to wins. The runner-up is Olivia Miles. Without her, the Lynx don’t win.” — Kyle F.
“If anyone had first pick in starting a new team, it would always be Wilson. Every possession starts with her, and she leads in so many categories.” — Walter H.
“A’ja Wilson is playing her best basketball in an amazing career. Hands down MVP.” — Gere F.

The case for Mitchell:

“Kelsey Mitchell, hands-down. She has carried the Fever on her back for the last two years despite great obstacles and while doing so has achieved heights that no one else has. … She’s humble. She is a great leader and teammate. Kelsey Mitchell represents the very best of the WNBA.” — Rosie H.
“I don’t think Kelsey Mitchell gets enough credit for her defense. She may not have the defensive stats of A’ja Wilson (e.g., blocks — how can she, she’s 5-8), but she is consistently given the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top perimeter player.” — Vanessa T.

The case for Clark:

“Obviously she scores, passes (turns it over), but her value can be seen in how the opposition guards her. She is guarded full court, they try get the ball out of her hands, she often is double or triple teamed. No other player faces that defensive attention.” — Gary W.
“The stat that really blows me away and jumps off the page is the points-created numbers that Clark puts up. She is truly a remarkable, ‘generational’ one might say, offensive engine.” — Justin D.

The case for Miles:

“No way the Lynx lead league w/o her. Best passer, floor general I have ever seen” — Dick K.
“Miles came in, and almost from the outset, kept the team focused and winning, even without Collier.” — Thomas M.

Among MVP odds, Wilson remains the heavy betting favorite.

NCAA: The fifth-years are back, for now

A Dallas judge signed an order prohibiting the NCAA and SEC from stopping the Class of 2022 from returning to college sports for one more season. Even if a player has signed a professional contract, they can return to college basketball if they are still within their five-year window of starting college, pending this week’s legal decisions.

That means players who signed WNBA contracts or spent time on a WNBA roster can play college basketball in 2026-27, provided their first NCAA season was in 2022-23. Thus far, we haven’t seen any players who played WNBA minutes in the 2026 season submit their intentions to rejoin the NCAA, but it is theoretically possible.

South Carolina found a veteran point guard in Brooke Quarles Daniels, who helped lead Michigan to the Elite Eight in the 2026 NCAA Tournament. The Gamecocks lost three ball-handlers from last year’s roster (Raven Johnson, Ta’Niya Latson and Maddy McDaniel) and needed some experience to help incoming freshman Jerzy Robinson.

Louisville’s frontcourt got even deeper with the addition of LSU’s Amiya Joyner, and Oklahoma State added Callin Hake, a steady point guard, to its star-studded experiment of Audi Crooks and Liv McGill. Two more players mentioned in the Dallas order — Christeen Iwuala and Bailey Maupin — would have significant impacts wherever they choose to land.

Recruiting season is truly never over in college basketball.

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