The Mystics remain one of the teams to keep an eye out for!
On Monday, USA Basketball announced that Washington Mystics guard Ariel Atkins and forward Elena Delle Donne will participate in training camp from Feb. 6-9 in Minneapolis, Minn. The camp will be run by Team USA and Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve.
The timing of the camp is happening as the European teams go on a break for the last round of Women’s EuroBasket qualifiers. Many Americans are still playing in Europe during the winter to earn salaries that are often higher than their WNBA ones.
Here are the rest of the players in camp:
- Napheesa Collier (Minnesota Lynx)
- Kahleah Copper (Chicago Sky)
- Allisha Gray (Atlanta Dream)
- Sabrina Ionescu (New York Liberty)
- Betnijah Laney (New York Liberty)
- Angel McCoughtry (free agent)
- Kelsey Plum (Las Vegas Aces)
- Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury)
- Jackie Young (Las Vegas Aces)
It’s important to note that this is not necessarily an indication of what direction Team USA wants to go in for the Olympics in 2024. Several top players are not in camp like Breanna Stewart and even Mystics center Shakira Austin.
It also won’t be an indication of what direction Team USA will go in for the Women’s AmeriCup which will also be in June. While the Americans will participate in that tournament, no WNBA players are expected to do so because it would interfere with the season. Furthermore, the USA already qualified for the Olympics due to winning the World Cup title last year.