TORONTO — Andrew Wiggins will not join the Canadian men’s basketball team at training camp, a decision that was out of his hands.
Canada general manager Rowan Barrett confirmed Wiggins would not be in camp, saying he was being held out from competing by his NBA team, the Golden State Warriors. Wiggins was among 20 players who received an invite to camp to determine the team headed to the Paris Olympics.
“For us, Andrew was fine,” Barrett said. “We were talking to him consistently, he’s been training for weeks and weeks getting ready for this. And then I got a call from Golden State a day or two before camp saying that they’re holding him out.
“So from what I see, this is not an Andrew decision, this is from the team. And so, he won’t be with us.”
The 10-year NBA veteran and one-time all-star and champion last played for Canada at its Olympic qualifying tournament in 2021. Wiggins expressed an interest in joining Canada for the Olympics, however.
“I’m disappointed for him,” Barrett said. “He’s gone through a lot the last couple of years and then, obviously, his mother was an Olympian and this is something he’s looking forward to and working toward and really on the uphill climb it seemed like in everything.
“I had a good conversation with him, he’s definitely trying to push the guys down the track almost, so to speak, hoping for the best for the guys.”
Canada Basketball announced its 20-man camp roster last Wednesday, with the likes of Denver Nuggets star Jamal Murray also joining the fold to create a strong backcourt duo with 2023-24 NBA MVP finalist Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Including those two, and excluding Wiggins, there are 12 NBA players on the roster, with camp starting Friday and running through July 7.
Murray didn’t compete at the World Cup which came just two months after a rigorous season in which he won an NBA title, but was in camp, as expected, on Friday.
A question mark, however, is seven-foot-four centre Zach Edey, who was selected ninth overall by the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA draft on Wednesday.
“I’m in conversation with his agent and with Memphis, it looks like they’re bringing him in town today,” Barrett said. “The draft now being two days as opposed to one kind of pushes it a day.
“So they’re gonna go in, have their conversations with him and amongst themselves and then I’ll be hearing from (Grizzlies GM) Zach Kleiman in just a bit.”
Canada is coming off a successful 2023 in which the team won its first-ever medal at a FIBA World Cup, defeating the United States for bronze last September.
The excitement with plenty of those from the World Cup team, along with new faces, was evident.
For longtime Canadian team member and Toronto Raptors centre Kelly Olynyk, it has a similar feel to last year’s camp ahead of the World Cup.
“It’s probably a lot like last year,” he said. “Obviously it’s a different tournament coming up, a little bit different group of guys that have to come together, but we’re all excited for it and looking forward to it and everybody’s here and ready to get after it.”
While Canada flourished offensively at the World Cup last summer, the defence has been a point of emphasis. And head coach Jordi Fernandez didn’t hesitate to set lofty goals for his team.
“We were 11th last summer at the World Cup and our goal is to be top three (at the Olympics),” Fernandez said. “We were No. 1 offensively and we still wanna get better, our shot quality was not as good as we want it to be.
“Defensively, one of the reasons why we went from being very good to struggling at the end, it was because I ran these players through the ground, I played some of them too many minutes and it’s definitely on me. I have to be better, we’ll be better as a group.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 28, 2024.
