BERLIN — The 2026 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup is not short of names. It is short of nights when one of them does not take the game.

Sixteen teams are in Germany through Sept. 13. The United States is chasing a fifth straight title without A'ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum, both out for health reasons. France, Belgium, Australia and Spain have already shown that the rest of the world is closer than the Americans' 66-game Olympic-and-World-Cup streak suggests. These 10 players — ranked by impact in Berlin and on the qualifying trail, not by highlight-reel fame alone — are the ones filling arenas and box scores.

Breanna Stewart is the adult in the U.S. huddle. The New York Liberty forward was World Cup MVP in 2018 and Olympic MVP in Tokyo. USA Today ranked her the best player in the field before tip-off. She is chasing a fourth World Cup gold, a mark only Sue Bird has reached. With Wilson out, Stewart starts beside Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, Kahleah Copper and Napheesa Collier. She is averaging elite two-way numbers in the WNBA and has the only résumé in the U.S. locker room that stretches to 2014.

Caitlin Clark made her World Cup debut off the bench........

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