USA Basketball dropped its 18-player December roster on Monday, selecting both standout vets and fresh faces for the national team's final training camp of 2025.

Taking place at Duke University from December 12th until the 14th, five 2024 Paris Olympic gold medalists — Kahleah Copper, Chelsea Gray, Brittney Griner, Kelsey Plum, and Jackie Young — will anchor the Team USA lineup.

Notably, a full 10 players will join the senior team for the first time next month, as young WNBA superstars like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, and Cameron Brink earn their first call-ups.

A pair of NCAA stars will also attend the December camp, with the national governing body tapping both UCLA senior center Lauren Betts and USC junior guard JuJu Watkins on the roster — though Watkins will not participate in on-court activities as she continues to rehab an ACL tear.

Along with the full camp roster, USA Basketball also dropped its December sideline leaders, with current WNBA head coaches Nate Tibbetts (Phoenix Mercury), Natalie Nakase (Golden State Valkyries), and Stephanie White (Indiana Fever) comprising the assistant coaching staff for the previously announced senior national team head coach Kara Lawson.

December's camp is the team's first step toward the World Cup qualifiers in March, when the US will compete despite having already qualified for the 2026 FIBA World Cup by winning the 2025 FIBA AmeriCup in July.

Overall, the clock starts now for USA women's basketball managing director Sue Bird, who is in charge of cultivating the best team for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The USA Basketball December Training Camp Roster

USA Basketball extended the tenure of head coach Kara Lawson on Monday, tapping the current Duke head coach to continue guiding the 5×5 team through the 2028 LA Olympics.

Lawson will helm the US at next year's FIBA World Cup as well as all training camps, exhibitions, and competitions in the lead-up to the 2028 LA Games.

"I will work tirelessly to uphold the standards of this storied program. There is no greater honor in our sport than to be chosen to lead the US women in world competition," Lawson said in a statement. "There is nothing more important than pushing this group to reach its potential."

After serving as an assistant coach during Team USA's eighth straight gold-medal run at the 2024 Paris Games, Lawson took over sideline duties for the national squad at the 2025 FIBA AmeriCup, leading a roster stocked with NCAA players back to the top of the international tournament's podium this summer.

The 13-season veteran athlete of the WNBA first won Olympic gold with the US as a player in 2008, then head coached the 3×3 team to gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics before joining previous 5x5 head coach Cheryl Reeve's staff ahead of the 2024 Games.

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Lawson is first choice of new Team USA director Sue Bird

While a committee tapped Lawson for her initial 5x5 head coaching stint this summer, Monday's multi-year extension decision comes straight from USA Basketball's new women's national team managing director Sue Bird, who played with Lawson on the 2008 Olympic team.

Hired last May, Bird now oversees all processes for player and coach selections, with the new term for Lawson marking the first head coaching decision by the Hall of Famer — though the USA Basketball Board of Directors later added their stamp of approval to Bird's call.

"Having shared the court with her, I know firsthand the leadership, competitive spirit, and basketball IQ that she brings," Bird said of Lawson. "Kara has always had the respect of her teammates and her players, something she has earned and demonstrated over decades."

Duke women's basketball head coach Kara Lawson will lead a different team this NCAA offseason, taking on sideline duties for Team USA at this summer's 2025 FIBA Women's AmeriCup in Chile, USA Basketball announced on Tuesday.

Likely one of the last coaching decisions handled by committee, Lawson — alongside assistants DeLisha Milton-Jones and Jennie Baranczyk, the head coaches of Old Dominion and Oklahoma, respectively — will aim to return the four-time champions to the top of the biannual tournament's podium, after falling short to Brazil in the 2023 gold medal game.

The 2005 WNBA champion boasts a long history of success with USA Basketball, earning 2008 Olympic gold amid multiple medals as a player before beginning her coaching career.

Since then, the 44-year-old helped lead various USA Basketball teams to an astounding 75-5 competition record, picking up nine gold medals along the way.

Most recently, Lawson added 2024 Olympic gold as an assistant coach to her inaugural 3x3 Olympic championship as a head coach at the 2021 Tokyo Games.

"I'm incredibly honored," said Lawson in a USA Basketball statement. "It's such a gift. It's a gift that has given me so much over the years as a player, as a committee member, and as a coach. I've always tried to compete and give my best.... That won't change this summer."

Taking place in the middle of the 2025 WNBA season, the Team USA roster could feature NCAA talent.

"The goal is to put together a competitive team, one that represents all the standards that we hold dear to us," added Lawson.

The 2025 FIBA AmeriCup team that Lawson will lead will be announced after next month's trials, shortly before the tournament tips off on June 28th.