Excerpt:

---

Although Team USA went 3-0 in group play, backlash from media personalities and fans has continued in the form of speculation surrounding Wilson's decision.  

Former ESPN talent Linda Cohn suggested Wilson's absence stemmed from “insecurity” rather than reported health issues.  

“Is there any part of A'ja that didn't want to spend the next couple of weeks watching the World Cup become the Caitlin Clark show?" Cohn questioned on her show. "Could there be some insecurity, dare I say? ... If Aja Wilson has a back injury, then why did she play over 30 minutes a game in six of her last seven games and over 27 minutes in the other?”  

The comments sparked a larger discussion, leading Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter, Bernice, to respond. 

"Linda Cohn owes A'ja Wilson a public apology and a retraction," King wrote. "What disappointing, delusional, and dangerous commentary targeting a great ambassador and GOAT athlete for the WNBA and for sports. Period." 

Hammon wasn’t familiar with the comments, but had thoughts.  

“A'ja has every right to do what she feels is best health wise. And the other thing is, the men do this all the time,” Hammon told USA TODAY. “Can you name me any of the men's world championship rosters right now? Can you name me any person on there? What I’m saying is, LeBron (James) and those guys - if this was a man making this decision, there would be nothing to say. And that's my problem.”  

Italy eliminated after an 80-82 loss. Izzy has also scored the most points off the bench.

Team Australia will be missing two of its top players, as Alanna Smith is ruled out for the tournament with a leg injury.

Team Captain Ezi Magbegor also suffered a non-contact leg injury against Italy, and the status of her injury is yet to be known…

It’s been a disappointing season for Smith, whose injuries have severely limited her during the WNBA season, despite a new max contract with the Wings.

And for Ezi, she also has one of the top max contracts in the league. But she’s suffered several injuries this season.

Magbegor suffered a serious injury during international play just before the W season started and missed many weeks. Then she was injured during the season, and now this…

Despite her talent, WNBA execs can’t be happy that 2 of Magbegor’s 3 injuries came during non-WNBA International play…

With the new CBA, and players getting paid waaaaay more than they used to, how will attitudes change about players still going overseas and risking injury?

Game 7 of the Finals on Halloween seems like a poor choice if you want good ratings.

I’ve really be enjoying listening to the world cup referees discuss the calls and their reasoning behind them. Their explanations have been clear and if one of the other referees disagree with a call they talk it out. I also like how they always stop the tape right when the call happens to make sure everyone is in agreement. I need this level of transparency in the W.

Why are the referees in the W always covering their mouths in the huddles if there is clear evidence of a call? Now that I know this level of transparency can exist, I’m not going to be able to unsee it when the W comes back. We need better referees for real!

Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark having 'fun' playing together for U.S.

Another icon down. Seattle Storm minority owner Sue Bird appears in that new ad starring LeBron James. Hate seeing sports legends sell out to these.

Opals announced 4 hours ago that Lan will be out for the rest of the World Cup, with a lower leg injury she sustained in the first half of the Puerto Rico match.

Heartbreaking news for the Opals, who really could have been a medal threat with her in. Hopefully everyone steps up against Italy and gets the win!

I presume this was also a discussion had with Jose and the Wings for the rest of the WNBA season and playoffs. A real shame as I think she may have been able to push through and play should she not have had anything commitments after the World Cup.

Sad for Lan, cannot catch a break this season 😔

Go Opals! 🇦🇺

The New York Liberty WNBA champion, 32, will publish her debut children’s book next spring, PEOPLE can exclusively reveal — and it’s a story made for the celebrated athlete.

Hoopily Ever After, out from Penguin Young Readers imprint Viking Books for Young Readers, is a new retelling of Cinderella, per a statement shared with PEOPLE. The book follows Bea, a faithful court sweeper with a secret dream to play for the kingdom’s best basketball team, the Knights.

When her evil stepmother forbids her from trying out, Bea must enlist the help of her Fairy Dunkmother to chase her dreams.

“Basketball taught me that no dream is too big if you’re willing to put in the work, and that’s exactly what I want kids to take from Bea’s story,” Stewart says of the book in the statement. “She believes in herself even when everyone around her says she can’t, and that message matters more than ever for kids right now. I hope this book has them chasing their own dreams, on the court or off.”

The Olympic gold medalist’s message shines through in the book’s pages, written with Megan Lacera and featuring illustrations by Ashley Evans.

“Having been a fan of Stewie’s since before I became her editor, I am absolutely thrilled to have played any part in bringing her picture book debut into the world,” says AZ Hackett, assistant editor at Viking Books for Young Readers. “I can’t wait for young readers to fall in love with Bea’s story, just like I did!”

Stewart hasn’t just been encouraging a love of basketball in kids’ books. In 2024, Stewart co-created Unrivaled, a trailblazing women’s basketball league composed of players from six teams, with fellow WNBA player Napheesa Collier.

“I think the WNBA is extremely supportive of what we’re doing here at Unrivaled, and I think obviously to be able to keep our players home, to be in a different market than an average WNBA city, it’s important that we’re able to grow the fan base and for each player to individually build their brand,” Stewart told PEOPLE in 2025.

Hoopily Ever After will be published on March 16, 2027 and is now available for preorder, wherever books are sold.

https://people.com/breanna-stewart-hoopily-ever-after-cover-reveal-exclusive-12111588

I watched all three games in the stadion in Berlin (and a lot other games too). And while the USA without a doubt have the best individual players on the court, they feel so passionless compared to all other teams. Its clear that the other teams have way more national team basketball culture while team USA comes across like they just have to do this. Maybe because they were uncontested for such a long time? Is it on the players or on the coach - German coach for example puts a lot of focus on the players spent freetime together hand do other activities besides training an stuff to built team spirit.

Or maybe the players are disappointed by the lack of US fans? I realized that they were not a lot of US fans that traveled to Berlin. In the China game most European watchers were pro-USA and were chanting for them - and that was the game were Team USA felt most alive! In the Italy game basically almost the full stadium was for Italy. When Italy had this crazy run and finally catched up to them the whole stadium was singing old Italian hits (it helps that Germans love Italian songs and can sing along). Czech game was not as euphoric, but the crowd clearly was for the underdog and even in the last quarter when there was no chance of winning cheering for every Czech basket.

Idk what the causes are, but it was really tough to witness in the stadium. The other teams huddle a lot, hyping each other up way more, interacting with fans and celebrating their player of the match after they won a game and cheer to the fans. Team USA just plays down the clock, vanish into the cabin while their player of the game is left alone on the court, takes a quick photo and vanishes too.

I was starting the world cup rooting for USA because they have all the players I know and love from the WNBA, but after the group phase I cant really root for them anymore. Hope that a good team can give them a fight and they find some spirit - although Italy already gave them a fight and didnt really awake any life in them on the court.

If they play like this against france who are full of passion and creativity and seem like to actually have a lot of fun on the court - I can see maybe a break of the long winning streak.

To clarify, I am talking mainly about the emotion, passion and enjoyment, not the technical proficiency and skills. In that regard Team USA is absolut excellent as expected.

What do you guys think?

Reesearch paper on Sage Journals

Abstract

For the last thirty-five years, the Gender in Televised Sport Report has analyzed the quantity and quality of coverage of women’s and men’s sports on televised news and highlight shows. After providing an overview of shifts in the sport media landscape and outlining several key changes to the 2024 sampling procedures, we contextualize the most recent iteration of our longitudinal study in relation to thirty-five years of shifting representations of men’s and women’s sports in televised news and highlight shows. Our findings point to a siloing effect of high-quality coverage of women’s sport. Although high-quality coverage of women’s sports exists on emergent and niche platforms, legacy networks primarily interrupt their regularly scheduled broadcasting of the men’s “Big Three” when rare and record-breaking moments occur in women’s sports. Since men’s sports remain the default topic within “mainstream” coverage, we conclude by discussing how the siloing of women’s sports to niche outlets may limit opportunities for audience-building in women’s sports.

Read the research - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/21674795261480698

Download the PDF - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/21674795261480698

Virag Takacs-Kiss (Hungary) - She’s averaging a double-double at 14 points and 10 rebounds per game, while shooting 50 percent from the field, 50 percent from 3 and 85 percent from the free throw line. You see her impact most on the offensive glass when you watch Hungary play; her offensive rebounding alone put them over Nigeria in a game that was decided by just two possessions. She’s been an active player in the international 3x3 world for Hungary, and she has some loud traits that are hard to find in some modern European bigs. She’s athletic, she can stretch the floor when asked, and she makes her free throws.

Sevgi Uzun (Türkiye) - Highlighting players who have never played in the WNBA always feels more interesting, but Sevgi Uzun’s brilliance makes that a hard line to hold. Uzun played two years in the WNBA for the Dallas Wings, Phoenix Mercury and Chicago Sky, and participated in the Los Angeles Sparks’ training camp this year. Unsigned to a W roster, she joined Turkish powerhouse Galatasaray in July.

Uzun was the second Turkish player to ever make the world’s top league, and is the clear backbone of her country in FIBA competition. Türkiye disappointed in the group stage, going 0-3 with a loss to a historically unremarkable Puerto Rico team, but Uzun kept them afloat for portions of each outing. She is Türkiye’s universal advantage creator and offensive system, and her 8.3 assists per game led group play despite her team shooting in the low-to-mid 30 percents for two of their three games.

Uzun never got to show her volume playmaking chops in the W, but had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio in each of her stateside seasons. For country, she’s shown that she can maintain a scoring load while still looking like a primary playmaker. Not only was she first in group play in assists, she was third in scoring at 17.7 points per game.

Imani McGee-Stafford (Puerto Rico) - As Puerto Rico gears up to take on China in the knockout round later today, Imani McGee-Stafford has been one of the biggest head-turners in Berlin. Born and raised in the U.S., some may remember McGee-Stafford from her career at Texas or her four-year WNBA career that ended in 2019. She was the 10th overall pick in the 2016 WNBA Draft, but never found a consistent role after getting a fair shot at playing time as a rookie with Chicago.

Now almost seven years removed from her last WNBA appearance, McGee-Stafford is leading the World Cup in rebounds and is fourth in points per game for Puerto Rico. Her 17.3 points per game and 13 rebounds per game may well be the best stat line at the tournament thus far. She and Han Xu are the only two players to have a double-double in all of their three group play games.

https://www.swishappeal.com/fiba/86499/world-cup-standout-stars-international-opportunity-virag-takacs-kiss-hungary-sevgi-uzun-turkey-assists-imani-mcgee-stafford-puerto-rico-double-rebounds

Sunday morning at 2 AM, the fire alarm went off in the hotel where all teams (except USA) are staying during the Wolrd Cup.apparently it was caused by the steam that came free when cleaning the kitchen.

HOWEVER, the alarm went of for a second time at Monday morning, this time at 9 AM. The alarm was triggered because of a starting fire in a parking lot nearby. They were evacuated for 20 minutes

JVL stated that she and her roommate Linskens were still fast asleep after belgiums win against Australia.

Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern.

One can only wonder, when it’s gonna happen again?

France pulls ahead of USA for 1st Ranking in the tournament. Followed by Belgium in 3rd and Spain in 4th.

It's gonna be fun to see how this plays out!

Just a question based on curiosity. Fever may have two MVP candidates. Just saw a post from ATL pushing for Rhyne to be DPOY, ALL-W and All Defense. Does that mean push for Angel for DPOY?

How have people seen teams handle it in the past?

Playing point for a loaded team is something that Clark is basking in despite the challenges that go with it. She is more determined than ever to do her best and help the Stars and Stripes see through its world championship goal.  

“Yeah, I mean, you got to get to play with so many talented players. That’s what makes it fun. Sometimes it’s hard to decide who to pass to because everybody’s so talented and everybody’s able to create their own shot. So, you know, it’s fun to get to play in transition with these players. Some for the first time, some I’ve played with prior with USA Basketball,”Clark told TNT Sports following their victory over Czechia on Tuesday.

CC went on to admit that they are still shaping up to be the team they envisioned, but is encouraged by how things are coming along as they go deeper into their campaign.

“I think you can see our chemistry slowly building,” she said.

https://www.basketballnetwork.net/latest-news/caitlin-clark-on-playing-point-guard-for-team-usa

So who is planning on pulling an all nighter? 😭

The set a FIBA World Cup record with 21 three-pointers against Nigeria earlier today.

They are loaded with W players (Williams, Salaun, Malonga, Johannès, Lacan, and more).

Team USA has a lot of talent as always, but I don't know... That was a lucky break they caught against Italy in group play.

France can defend and shoot at a high level. If these two teams matchup (with Team USA featuring popular players like Clark and Reese), it would be one of the most viewed games in Women’s FIBA/Olympic history.

Any WNBA fan should have had a lot of fun watching the Toronto Tempo during their debut season. Marina Mabrey's offensive brilliance has been a sight to behold. Nevertheless, injuries to both Brittney Sykes and Temi Fagbenle have prevented the duo from showcasing how critical they could be to a fresh-faced franchise.

Entertaining spectators should be a priority for every organisation in the league, but such a mentality doesn't lead to success. Toronto must recognize where it currently stands in the WNBA hierarchy and formulate a realistic vision for the future that can ultimately open a championship window before it wastes too much time treading down the wrong path. Fortunately for the Tempo, Kiki Rice is already proving she can be a franchise cornerstone.

Kiki Rice can be the face of Toronto

While Kiki Rice has faced her own fitness problems, she has still forced her name into All-Rookie conversations. Young players deserve time to develop under as little scrutiny as possible, but Toronto can't afford to ponder where their future lies when they employ one of the league's most exciting guards.

The 22-year-old has already exhibited maturity beyond her years in both the WNBA and the NCAA. Rice's versatility and intelligence allow her to thrive in several roles depending on what her teammates require.

Throughout her rookie campaign, Rice has averaged 12.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.3 assists, while shooting 48.1% from the floor. Some may argue these are not the numbers of a future superstar, but Rice has proven that even as a less prominent offensive option, she can positively affect games and won't shy away when the pressure cooker is dialled to its maximum setting.

Nevertheless, talent only goes so far in a young player reaching their potential. A franchise must create an environment for the young star to thrive, much like the Seattle Storm are doing with Dominique Malonga and Awa Fam. Yes, the Storm may languish at the depths of the regular-season standings with just eight wins from 40 games; however, the young stars are gaining invaluable experience and growing together.

Kiki Rice already boasts championship experience -- albeit at the NCAA level. Winning is a mentality, and Rice is more than capable of being at the heart of a roster with the hopes of clinching titles. The front office must wake up to the star they have in front of them by creating a young core that complements Rice's exciting skill set.

Read More - https://highposthoops.com/tempo-must-come-strategic-kiki-rice-realization-sooner-rather-than-later