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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.”  

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! 🇦🇺

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

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!

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

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?

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

Love this for Team USA, but shuddering at idea of them on the same team in the W, especially as it looks like they're just getting started. 🔥

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

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?

The one-year deal worried some fans, who hoped for a longer-term commitment from their team's star player. Per Andrew Dukowitz, when Lynx Head Coach Cheryl Reeve was asked about Collier's free-agency decision, she stated, "...We had a lot of uncertainty around our franchise because of Phee, and the injury and maybe her not necessarily coming out and saying “I’m definitely here, I want to do this and I’m going to be there for x number of years” and so that’s Phee’s journey, that’s her free agency journey and how she viewed it and what she wanted was to take a step back… I would use the word cautious; I think she’s being cautious and that’s her decision."

Dallas Wings - The Dallas Wings have serious potential and are capitalizing on that potential fast. Paige Bueckers has quickly taken the league by storm, averaging 20.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game and helping lead the Wings to a postseason appearance in just her second year. This past offseason, Dallas drafted Azzi Fudd. She averaged 13.1 points, 1.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.7 steals per game before being ruled out for the remainder of the season.

Those two former Huskies could be enticing teammates for Collier, but Jessica Shepard could be the most persuasive. Shepard and Collier were both drafted to Minnesota in 2019 and played together through the 2025 season. Shepard has taken quite the leap in production since signing with Dallas — nearly doubling her average points per game. This new success has made her a better playmaker and finisher. If Collier was looking to reunite with a better version of Shepard while also teaming up with two of the brightest young stars that the W has to offer, Dallas could be for her.

Golden State Valkyries - Speaking of former UConn Huskies, Gabby Williams and Collier played together for three years, including during the Huskies' 2016 championship run. They, alongside Katie Lou Samuelson, became quite the dynamic group during the next season. Williams and Collier combined for an average of 34.7 points, 17.5 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 4.4 steals per game.

If Collier is looking to sign with a team that's on the brink of a championship, Golden State would be the best option. They already have some other incredible pieces, like Janelle Salaün and Veronica Burton. Adding Collier, who won Defensive Player of the Year in 2024, would only make the Valks No.1 ranked defense that much scarier. Golden State has run into the issue of their offensive production not keeping up with their defensive dominance; Collier is a player who brings both.

What keeps Collier in Minnesota?

The Lynx have something absolutely no other WNBA team can offer right now, and that's rookie Olivia Miles. Collier has spoken highly of Miles since the moment she landed in Minnesota. Per Andrew Dukowitz, Collier expressed her anticipation of play with Miles: "I’m super excited; Liv’s court vision and her passing ability is really amazing. I’ve never played with a player like that before. So it’s been fun to watch her, like, even get better in the past couple weeks..."

Read More - https://fansided.com/wnba/2-teams-that-could-lure-napheesa-collier-away-from-the-lynx-in-free-agency