US stars A'ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum to miss the FIBA Women's World Cup

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Cite

Feinberg, D. (2026, August 31). US stars A'ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum to miss the FIBA Women's World Cup. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/sports/basketball/us-stars-aja-wilson-and-kelsey-plum-to-miss-the-fiba-womens-world-cup/article_39c5cdd3-271e-54a2-89c4-0eaa1246022d.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Toronto Star · collected 2026-08-31 · by Doug Feinberg

Quick Summary

US stars A'ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum will miss the FIBA Women's World Cup due to health reasons, with Wilson needing a break after shouldering a heavy workload for the Las Vegas Aces and Plum dealing with a lingering calf injury. They will be replaced by Washington teammates Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron. The US team has won every World Cup since 2006, but will now rely heavily on its youth movement in Wilson's and Plum's absence. The team, which includes Olympic medalists Breanna Stewart and others, faces China in their opening match on Friday.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-08-31, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

A'ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum, two top players for the US women's basketball team, will miss the upcoming FIBA Women's World Cup due to health reasons. Wilson, a four-time WNBA MVP, has been dealing with an intense workload this season and needed a break to rest and prepare for the playoffs. She was voted the most outstanding player of the 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2022 World Cup. Meanwhile, Plum has been struggling with a calf injury that hasn't fully healed. In their place, teammates Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron, both from the Washington Mystics, will join the team in Germany. The US women's basketball team is seeking to win its seventh consecutive World Cup title, having last finished with a bronze medal in 2006.

Written for “US Women's Basketball Team” on 2026-10-16, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 US Women's Basketball Team
Sports · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

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Claims extracted
18
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 18 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
63/100
Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-08-31 · how these are computed

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Publisher

Toronto Star · 7661 article(s) · 22 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 22 correction(s)
2026-10-07
Correction
2026-09-24
Correction

Who wrote this

Doug Feinberg
20 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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🔮 New York will be making its third appearance in the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs in the past four years when the Liberty play the Atlanta Dream on Sunday in Game 1 of the best-of-five series.
🔮 Minnesota couldn’t get closer than seven points the rest of the way.
🔮 Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers are set to make their WNBA postseason debuts while Caitlin Clark returns to the playoffs after missing last season because of injury.
🔮 “I know the betting people will have favorites and that sort of thing.
🔮 The Minnesota Lynx have clinched the top seed and will face eighth-seeded New York in the opening round that begins Sunday.
🔮 NEW YORK (AP) — Madina Okot had a special guest at the Atlanta Dream’s win over the New York Liberty on Wednesday night as Kenyan President William Ruto was sitting courtside.
🔮 The two teams will play again on Wednesday in the regular-season finale.
🔮 A win against New York on Wednesday or a loss by Indiana in one of its final two games would give the Dream home court in the opening round of the postseason.
🔮 The eight teams that will play in the postseason were decided a few weeks ago, but none of positions have been clinched yet.
Also by Doug Feinberg
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 20 articles by Doug Feinberg →

Topics

American Americans U.S. WNBA World Cup

Subjects

U.S. GPE · 4× American NORP · 2× Americans NORP · 2× Citron PERSON · 2× Iriafen PERSON · 2× WNBA ORG · 2× A’ja Wilson PERSON · 1× Kelsey Plum PERSON · 1× Kiki Iriafen PERSON · 1× Washington GPE · 1×

Narrative

A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum will miss the FIBA Women’s World Cup for health reasons and will be replaced by Washington teammates Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron, USA Basketball announced Monday.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-08-31
🔮 A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum will miss the FIBA Women’s World Cup for health reasons and will be replaced by Washington teammates Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron, USA Basketball announced Monday.
2026-08-31 · Toronto Star
US stars A'ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum to miss the FIBA Women's World Cup · assertive framing

Claims (18 extracted, 0 hedged)

A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum will miss the FIBA Women’s World Cup for health reasons and will be replaced by Washington teammates Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron, USA Basketball announced Monday. asserted
Basketball → miss → teammates
Wilson, the four-time WNBA MVP, has shouldered quite a workload in the first part of the season for the Las Vegas Aces and needed a break to rest and get ready for the playoffs. asserted
Wilson → shoulder → playoffs
She was voted the most outstanding player of the 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2022 World Cup. asserted
She → vote → Olympics
She will be sorely missed by the United States. asserted
She → miss → States
Plum has been dealing with a calf injury for most of the WNBA season and it still hasn’t 100% healed. asserted
it → deal → season
She was a catalyst in the Paris Games gold-medal contest against France and sparked the Americans to the one-point victory. asserted
She → spark → victory
Iriafen played on the American team that went to Puerto Rico and won the World Cup qualifier. asserted
that → play → qualifier
Citron had to miss that tournament because of an injury, so she’ll be making her national team debut in Germany. asserted
she → have → Germany
The Americans have won every World Cup since finishing with the bronze medal in 2006. asserted
Americans → win → 2006
That World Cup saw American star Lisa Leslie pull out at the last minute because of a car accident that her uncle was in. asserted
uncle → see → that
Without her, the U.S. fell to Russia in the semifinals. asserted
U.S. → fall → semifinals
Without the two veteran players, the U.S. will rely even more heavily on its youth movement. asserted
U.S. → rely → movement
Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers will make their World Cup. asserted
Clark → make → Cup
The young stars will be joined by Olympic medalists Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier, Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young and Kahleah Copper. asserted
stars → join → Stewart
Rhyne Howard and Aliyah Boston will also be making their World Cup debuts to round out the team. asserted
Howard → make → team
The U.S. opens against China on Friday. asserted
U.S. → open → Friday
The Chinese team has a huge front line with 7-foot-3 Zhang Ziyu, 6-10 Han Xu and 6-7 Li Yueru. asserted
team → have → Ziyu
The two teams played for the World Cup title in 2022 in Australia. asserted
teams → play → Australia
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