World Cup 2023 Preview: Key Players to Watch

Kara Lawson barely paused when the bad news landed.

No A’ja Wilson. No Kelsey Plum. No reigning World Cup MVP. No Olympic tournament MVP. No closer who dropped 12 enormous points in the gold-medal game in Paris.

“We don't have time to be worried about who's not here,” the Team USA head coach said. The message was blunt: the world has caught up, the margin for error has shrunk, and Berlin will not be a coronation. It will be a fight.

Wilson, the centerpiece of the Las Vegas Aces and the dominant force of the 2022 World Cup, is sidelined. So is Plum, whose nerve and shot-making pushed the U.S. over the line in Paris. Their absence strips away the safety net that has cushioned Team USA for a decade.

What’s left is a new-look roster, a different balance of stars and roles, and a World Cup that opens on Sept. 4 in Berlin with 16 nations stacked with elite talent. The Americans are still the standard. They’re just not alone anymore.

Across the draw, the field is loaded with players who can tilt a game, a group of stars whose résumés stretch from EuroLeague to the WNBA to the Olympic podium. Here are 10 who will shape this World Cup.

10. Han Xu, China – A towering problem at tip-off

Team USA’s first look at the new world order will be eye-level with a 6-foot-9 center.

Han Xu returns for her third World Cup, a central figure in China’s rise. In the qualifier in Wuhan in March, she averaged 12.4 points and 5.6 rebounds and grabbed a Player of the Game nod against Brazil, a reminder that she’s more than just size. She can shoot. She can stretch a defense. She forces you to rethink help schemes the moment she steps over half court.

And she’s not even the only giant in China’s frontcourt.

Li Yueru, the 6-7 Dallas Wings center, adds brute strength and interior scoring. Then there’s 19-year-old Zhang Ziyu, listed at 7-2 and already a looming presence with an eye on the 2027 WNBA draft. For an American team missing its most dominant interior scorer and defender in Wilson, that opening-round matchup is a test of both depth and nerve.

9. Megan DiLeo, Spain – The new engine of a powerhouse

Spain sits at No. 3 in FIBA’s power rankings for a reason, and her name is Megan DiLeo.

The 6-4 center has quietly become one of the most reliable forces in the international game. In Paris, she led Spain in both scoring (18.0 points per game) and rebounding (9.3 per game), dragging them through tight moments with a mix of touch, timing and toughness on the glass. Her club form matches that standard: she’s in the middle of the best WNBA season of her career with the Portland Fire.

This will be her World Cup debut, but she won’t be treated like a newcomer. DiLeo anchors a young Spanish core that includes Awa Fam and Maria Conde, and she will be the reference point on both ends. If Spain lives up to its ranking, it will be because DiLeo plays like the star she has already become.

8. Julie Allemand, Belgium – The conductor with teeth

Belgium’s ceiling will always be linked to Emma Meesseman, but Julie Allemand is the one who makes the whole operation hum.

The 5-10 Toronto Tempo guard arrives in Berlin as one of the best pure point guards in the tournament. In March, at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 Qualifying Tournament in Wuhan, she earned MVP honors after averaging 9.4 points, 5.6 assists and 3.4 steals per game. That steal number tells the story: she doesn’t just organize; she disrupts.

She set an all-time single-game World Cup Qualifiers record with seven steals against South Sudan, a performance that underlined her ability to flip a game in a quarter. At club level, she led Fenerbahçe to the 2025-26 EuroLeague Women title and walked away with Final Six MVP.

With Belgium, Allemand has been central to EuroBasket gold in 2023 and 2025, making the All-Star Five both times. She brings experience, tempo control and a ruthless defensive edge. If Belgium turns this World Cup into a deep run, it will start in her hands.

7. Mai Yamamoto, Japan – The smallest star with the loudest range

Mai Yamamoto stands 5-4. Her game feels twice that size.

Now a fan favorite with the Las Vegas Aces, she is already a veteran of seven senior FIBA competitions, including the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 Olympics. In Japan’s Olympic opener in Paris, a 102-76 loss to the U.S., she still carved out 17 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists, refusing to fade in the spotlight.

Her shot is the headline. That two-handed release from deep is almost mechanical in its consistency. She hit 64% from three in the 2024 Olympic qualifying tournament and 50% from beyond the arc in the World Cup qualifier in San Juan. Those are video-game numbers, delivered under pressure.

Japan’s recent record in Asia tells its own story: gold at the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup, silver in 2023. Yamamoto sits at the heart of that success. Leave her an inch on the perimeter in Berlin, and you pay.

6. Ezi Magbegor, Australia – A bronze-medal monster chasing more

Australia knows what it wants from this World Cup: a third straight podium, and a real swing at gold. Ezi Magbegor is the player who can push them there.

The 6-4 Seattle Storm center walked out of Paris with a piece of Olympic history. In the bronze medal game, she delivered one of the most efficient performances the women’s tournament has ever seen: 30 points on 12-of-17 shooting, plus 13 rebounds. It wasn’t just a big night. It was a statement about what she can be when the stakes spike.

Magbegor’s length and mobility make her a nightmare matchup. She runs the floor, changes shots, finishes in traffic. On a global stage where possessions tighten and every mistake is magnified, that kind of two-way impact is priceless.

If Australia climbs again in Berlin, expect Magbegor’s fingerprints all over it.

5. Leonie Fiebich, Germany – The face of the hosts

Every host nation needs a star who can carry its hopes without being crushed by them. For Germany, that is Leonie Fiebich.

The 6-4 New York Liberty forward is a classic modern wing: long, versatile, and lethal from distance. Her importance to Germany is hard to overstate. She powered their Olympic push with 18.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in the qualifying tournament, then delivered a historic debut on the Paris stage.

Now she returns home, front and center of a World Cup on German soil. She will be asked to score, to rebound, to defend top wings, and to absorb the emotional weight of a nation watching. Her shooting can stretch any defense; her size allows Germany to switch and scrap.

If the hosts catch fire and turn Berlin into a cauldron, Fiebich will be the one feeding the flames.

4. Caitlin Clark, USA – The spotlight, and the substance behind it

Caitlin Clark will walk into this World Cup as the most famous player in the tournament. The question is no longer whether she can handle that. It’s how much she can bend the event to her will.

The 6-0 Indiana Fever guard arrives as MVP of the World Cup Qualifying Tournament in San Juan. She only started one of Team USA’s five games there. It didn’t matter. She still led the team with 58 points and 32 assists, dictating tempo and punishing every defensive lapse.

Her shooting range warps defenses. Her passing punishes overreactions. On a roster missing Wilson and Plum, Clark’s ability to create from nothing becomes even more valuable. This is her World Cup debut, but the stage is already familiar: big arena, bigger expectations, no time to ease in.

In Berlin, she won’t just be a draw. She’ll be a barometer of how quickly this new U.S. group can find its identity.

3. Gabby Williams, France – Playing with a scar

Gabby Williams should have had a different memory of Paris.

The Golden State Valkyries star was magnificent in the Olympic final, scoring 19 points against Team USA and dragging France to the brink of overtime. Her last shot dropped, the crowd roared, and for a heartbeat it felt like the hosts had forced an extra five minutes.

Then came the ruling: two-pointer, not three. The scoreboard froze at 67-66. Silver, not gold.

That moment hangs over this World Cup. Williams, a 5-11 forward, has done just about everything else in the game. She won the Alain Gilles Trophy in 2024 as France’s top player, across both men and women. She took Fenerbahçe to the FIBA Europe title and claimed FIBA Europe SuperCup MVP. Her résumé includes EuroLeague championships, EuroLeague Final Four MVP, two EuroLeague Defensive Player of the Year awards, and multiple Turkish Presidential Cup titles.

She defends, she creates, she hits big shots. Now she arrives with an extra edge, carrying both pride and unfinished business. For France, that combination makes her a major threat to anyone, including the U.S.

2. Emma Meesseman, Belgium – The complete champion chasing one last prize

Emma Meesseman’s international CV reads like a checklist of everything a player can win. EuroBasket titles. Back-to-back Women’s EuroBasket MVPs. Two championships with the Belgian Cats. A WNBA Finals MVP with the Washington Mystics in 2019.

Most recently, the New York Liberty forward led Belgium to the 2025 FIBA Women’s EuroBasket crown and took tournament MVP again. At 33, she is still the calm at the center of every storm, the player who sees the game one beat earlier than everyone else.

Meesseman can post, pass, stretch the floor and anchor a defense with positioning and timing rather than raw athleticism. She has carried Belgium from plucky outsider to genuine contender.

There is one gap left: World Cup gold. That’s the mission in Berlin.

1. Breanna Stewart, USA – The anchor in a world that’s closing in

With A’ja Wilson out, Breanna Stewart becomes more than just a star for Team USA. She becomes the anchor, the constant, the player whose presence steadies everything around her.

The New York Liberty forward has been elite for so long that it’s easy to overlook what she can still add to her legacy in Berlin. If the U.S. wins, she will join Sue Bird as a four-time World Cup champion, matching a record that currently belongs to Bird alone. She could also become the first player ever to win multiple World Cup MVP awards, having already claimed the honor in 2018.

Her international résumé is already stacked: FIBA MVP at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, All-Star Five selections at the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 Paris Games. At 6-3, she stretches defenses with her shooting, punishes mismatches inside, and covers ground defensively in a way that makes schemes flexible and aggressive.

This World Cup offers something different, though. No Wilson. No Plum. A global field that believes, with reason, that the gap has narrowed.

For Stewart, for Lawson, for a reshaped American roster, Berlin is not just about defending a title. It’s about proving that in a world sprinting to catch up, the standard still lives in red, white and blue.