A'ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum to miss the FIBA Women's World Cup - ESPN

A'ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum will miss the FIBA Women's World Cup for health reasons with Plum also missing the rest of the 2026 WNBA season.

USA Basketball announced Monday that Washington teammates Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron would replace Wilson and Plum on the FIBA World Cup roster.

Wilson, the four-time WNBA MVP, has not been 100% for some time, a source close to the situation told ESPN's Alexa Philippou, and there was a concern that the World Cup's grueling schedule could exacerbate the situation. She popped up on the injury report twice in the last week with a back issue, though she did not miss any games, playing 30 minutes on Friday in the Las Vegas Aces' last contest before the FIBA break.

Wilson was voted the most outstanding player of the 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2022 World Cup.

Plum has been dealing with a calf injury for most of the WNBA season and it still hasn't fully healed. She was a catalyst in the Paris Games gold medal contest against France and sparked the Americans to the one-point victory.

In a statement posted Monday to her Instagram stories, Plum wrote: «I did everything I could to be back on the court, but just ran out of time. After careful consideration and conversations with my family, team doctors, coaching staff, and front office, the decision has been made to shut it down through [the] remainder of the season and focus on getting my body back to 100%… This is not an easy decision as I love to compete, but I know it's the right one for the long term.»

«Kelsey is a competitor, and she wants nothing more than to be on the court with her teammates and competing for the Mercury,» Mercury general manager Nick U'Ren said. «We know how much it means to her to play, and how much she means to