Canada Basketball has formally announced its preliminary roster for the upcoming 2024 Olympics in Paris. The 20-man group will have to be trimmed to 12 players for Paris.
Here are the 20 players vying for spots on Team Canada’s Olympic roster, which will be coached by new Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez:
- Kyle Alexander (Hapoel Tel Aviv)
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Timberwolves)
- RJ Barrett (Raptors)
- Trae Bell-Haynes (Zaragoza)
- Khem Birch (Girona)
- Oshae Brissett (Celtics)
- Dillon Brooks (Rockets)
- Luguentz Dort (Thunder)
- Zach Edey (Purdue)
- Melvin Ejim (Unicaja)
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder)
- Mfiondu Kabengele (Venezia)
- Trey Lyles (Kings)
- Jamal Murray (Nuggets)
- Andrew Nembhard (Pacers)
- Kelly Olynyk (Raptors)
- Dwight Powell (Mavericks)
- Phil Scrubb (Bahcesehir Koleji)
- Thomas Scrubb (Obradoiro)
- Andrew Wiggins (Warriors)
All 12 players who helped Canada clinch an Olympic berth and claim a bronze medal at the 2023 World Cup are included in the preliminary roster, along with several notable newcomers, including Murray, Wiggins, Lyles, and Nembhard.
Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe and Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin, whose seasons ended earlier due to injuries, will also attend training camp with Team Canada, but won’t be in the mix for roster spots this summer, according to today’s announcement.
Even without Sharpe or Mathurin in the mix, the Canadians can put together a formidable NBA-heavy squad that should be in contention for a medal in Paris. Gilgeous-Alexander, Barrett, Brooks, Dort, Powell, Olynyk, and Alexander-Walker were the top seven players on last year’s squad and look like relatively safe bets to represent Canada again. If Murray, Wiggins, Lyles, and Nembhard were to join them, that would leave just one open spot for the remaining nine invitees.
One notable omission from the 20-man preliminary roster is veteran guard Cory Joseph, who spoke to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca earlier this week to express his disappointment about being left off the list. Joseph was unable to compete for a spot on the World Cup team last year due to a back injury, but was among the 14 players who made a commitment in 2022 to be part of Canada’s “summer core” for the current Olympic cycle.
“I took the honor of playing for your country very seriously and did it many times over the years,” Joseph told Grange. “This is not me complaining, I’m not a complainer. But there were times when I put FIBA basketball and playing for my country over my NBA situation at the time, whether I was in a contract year and I had no contract at the time and I went to go play for my country, whether I had little bumps and tweaks, I was there. Whether guys came or not, I always thought we still had a chance. For me it’s a little disheartening to be like, ‘Wow, I wasn’t even given an opportunity to compete for whatever position?’
“… I had planned to go to camp, and when you’re talking about the (last three or four spots) on the roster, there’s a pool of talented guys you could put on the roster, (but) I don’t see, in that situation, where I wouldn’t at least be invited to camp to be one of those guys (to compete for a spot), so that’s where my disappointment is with the organization. … I don’t want to take away from the fact that Canada Basketball is in a great place. This is not that. I love all those guys. I want them to do well. Quote that. I just think I should have been invited to camp at the very least, 100 per cent.”
Team Canada will hold its training camp in Toronto from June 28 to July 7 before heading to Las Vegas for an exhibition game vs. Team USA on July 10. The Canadians will also play exhibition matches with France on July 19 and the winner of the Puerto Rico Olympic qualifying tournament on July 21.
Canada will be in Group A at the Olympics, along with Australia. The group will be filled out by the winners of the qualifying tournaments in Spain and Greece.