The 2024 Paris Olympics are a couple of weeks away with fans excited to have their offseason full of basketball with the most prestigious international competition in the sport. Team USA will be heavy favorites, but there are plenty of dark horse contenders looking to pull off a major upset. Team Canada is one of them, and their 20-man training camp squad shows they have some serious talent on their squad.
– Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder)
– Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets)
– RJ Barrett (Toronto Raptors)
– Andrew Wiggins (Golden State Warriors)
– Dillon Brooks (Houston Rockets)
– Luguentz Dort (Oklahoma City Thunder)
– Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Minnesota Timberwolves)
– Trey Lyles (Sacramento Kings)
– Andrew Nembhard (Indiana Pacers)
– Kelly Olynyk (Toronto Raptors)
– Dwight Powell (Dallas Mavericks)
– Oshae Brissett (Boston Celtics)
– Zach Edey (Purdue)
– Trae Bell-Haynes (Casademont Zaragoza)
– Khem Birch (Bàsquet Girona)
– Melvin Ejim (Unicaja)
– Kyle Alexander (Hapoel Tel Aviv B.C.)
– Mfiondu Kabengele (Venezia)
– Phil Scrubb (Bahçeşehir Koleji)
– Thomas Scrubb (Monbus Obradoiro)
Team Canada’s best player just finished second in MVP voting, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will look to build off the dominance he showed in the 2023 FIBA World Cup by leading Canada to a medal and beating Team USA. He averaged 30.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 6.2 assists last season.
Jamal Murray didn’t play in the 2023 FIBA World Cup because of the title run the Denver Nuggets made that summer but he will be raring to go in the Olympics, likely forming the starting backcourt alongside Shai. Murray averaged 21.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 6.5 assists this season.
Andrew Wiggins didn’t feature in the FIBA World Cup either but will be hoping to solidify a role in Canada’s starting lineup, even after a tough season where he averaged 13.2 points and 4.5 rebounds.
There are talented swingmen such as RJ Barrett, Lu Dort, and Dillon Brooks who add perimeter toughness and stretchability to the court on the roster as well. Veteran NBA big men such as Dwight Powell and Kelly Olynyk will continue playing a role in the team’s frontcourt, though 2024 NBA Draft prospect Zach Edey is hotly tipped to supplant one, if not both, in the rotation.
Can Team Canada Contend For A Medal?
Team Canada has built cohesion in their ranks in recent seasons, with the core of this group having built together for years. There are some new additions to the core for the Olympic roster including Wiggins and players like Andrew Nembhard, but they’ll be fighting for a place based on what they can provide right now, not based on the fact that they’re in the NBA.
Team USA will be the major favorites to win Gold, with LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry leading the nation with some of the best players in the world, including 2023 MVP Joel Embiid. Canada can’t beat them as easily as they did in the FIBA World Cup last season, but they’ll sure be willing to try.
Canada will have to worry about other major threats such as France, expected to be headlined by a Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert frontcourt. Australia will remain a competitive team in international competitions, though they are light on NBA star power with the likes of Josh Green, Josh Giddey, and Dante Exum on the squad.
Serbia will be a major threat with Nikola Jokic joining the 2023 FIBA World Cup winners for the Olympics to form arguably the biggest non-US threat in the competition.
Teams like Slovenia and Greece could be threats, provided their stars Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo can take them out of the qualifying tournaments and are healthy for Paris.
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