PHOENIX -- The 2024 WNBA All-Star Game may be an exhibition, but don't expect either team to approach it that way.
Team USA knows this is a critical opportunity to establish chemistry and momentum ahead of its quest for an eighth consecutive Olympic gold medal in Paris. Team WNBA, meanwhile, won't take it easy on them.
"I was excited, like really, really excited [to lead Team WNBA] until I found out that the team I'm coaching wants to beat the brakes off our Olympic team, and I'm like, 'OK, the pressure's on,'" Team WNBA coach Cheryl Miller said. "Now we got a game folks. We're going to have a game."
"We're taking the game pretty seriously," added Napheesa Collier, a Team USA member. "We have to get ready for the Olympics, so this is a practice game for us. We're definitely going in with the mindset that we want to win."
Team WNBA is headlined by star rookies Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese but has a slew of experienced veterans including Nneka Ogwumike, DeWanna Bonner and Jonquel Jones. Dearica Hamby, who will compete for Team USA in Paris as part of the 3x3 team, is on the roster as well.
"We definitely want to win," said two-time All-Star and Team WNBA member Aliyah Boston. "We said in the huddle that winning is fun. We're excited to get out there and play together. Obviously, we haven't played together as this group, but just knowing the talent we have on this team, being able to push pace and run is going to be good for us."
The last time the WNBA used this format for an All-Star Game, in 2021 heading into the Tokyo Olympics, Team WNBA prevailed behind a stellar outing from All-Star MVP Arike Ogunbowale. Her performance is not forgotten by members of Team USA.
"[It's going to be] definitely competitive," three-time Olympian Breanna Stewart said. "We're trying to get ready for the Olympics and this is an amazing weekend. It's been amazing hospitality by Phoenix and everything, but we have to be locked in because our time together is so short."
The U.S. national team has a sole exhibition next Tuesday versus Germany before group play in the Paris Games begins July 29. The team features five new 5x5 Olympians: Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, Kahleah Copper, Sabrina Ionescu and Alyssa Thomas. Eight of the 12 members of the 2024 Olympic team were on the U.S.'s roster for the 2022 FIBA World Cup, where the Americans won gold.
With players dedicating their summers to WNBA play and limited time for USA Basketball commitments, fast-tracking chemistry is always part of the national team grind. But the program has maintained a standard of excellence that's resulted in utter dominance on the world stage. The senior U.S. women's team hasn't dropped a contest in the Olympics since 1992 and last lost a game in a major international competition in 2006.
"It could be a challenge if you sort of let it," national team head coach Cheryl Reeve said of quickly developing chemistry. "It is a narrative. It is true in terms of time. But I also think what you do in your time together and working toward that chemistry, we talked about that every time we get together and what we think is necessary. ... We understand it, but we're not going to let that be a reason why we're not successful."
Team USA is particularly grateful for the return of Brittney Griner, who will appear in her third Olympics this summer. She was detained in Russia for 10 months before being released in a high-profile prisoner exchange.
"Just honored to be here," Griner said. "The selection committee had a hard job picking all of us and it's always an honor to be able to represent Team USA ... even now, even more so, my country literally saved my life. And now I'm able to represent them again, and it just means so much more. So much more."
This will be Griner's first international trip since her detainment, but she said she's excited to go back abroad.
"My overseas career didn't really end the way I wanted it to," she said, "so this is kind of a way for me to kind of do that on my own terms."
"It's going to be an emotional day for her, for all of us," said Phoenix Mercury and U.S. national team teammate Diana Taurasi, who's going for her sixth Olympic gold. "We all know what the last couple years have been like for BG, and for her to be sitting over there and going to another Olympics is truly remarkable and that just says a lot about her character, her family, the people around her. The thing about BG is, it's so hard not to like her because she genuinely has a big heart for everyone. And we try to do the same thing for her."