WNBA star Aliyah Boston has been selected to be part of Team USA for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup. Earlier in the week, she headed to Berlin, Germany, along with her Indiana Fever teammate Caitlin Clark.
Boston has been one of the most dominant bigs in the WNBA this season, averaging 16.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks per game. That said, she’s expected to anchor the paint and lead Team USA’s defense whenever she’s on the floor, especially since she’s the tallest player on the squad.
While it remains to be seen how Team USA will perform, especially since the squad has had only a few days to train together, Boston has also expressed confidence about what the squad is capable of.
Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect
Boston emphasized that USA Basketball knew that the players it selected could quickly adapt to playing alongside each other. Furthermore, she said that the players understand that playing for the national team requires them to put their rivalries aside.
“You know what you want to do when it comes to USA basketball. You know that when they select a team, no matter where we compete, no matter how hard you play against each other, they see something that we can all play together. We can all gel, we can all mesh to win gold,” Boston said in a video posted by Team USA on Thursday.
She added, “At the end of the day, that is the main goal. … So for us, you’re able to just put everything else aside. You’re competitors when we go back in two weeks, but right now we’re teammates and we’ll continue to push each other to do what we need to do.”
Team USA has been the most dominant team in FIBA World Cup history. In fact, the nation is in search of its fifth straight title in the quadrennial affair.
The Americans have an established culture, and as Boston stated, they know what it takes to win the title.
