The Canadian national team has formally announced its 12-man roster for the Paris Olympics, making its final cuts ahead of Wednesday’s exhibition games against Team USA.
Team Canada’s 12-man squad is as follows:
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, G (Thunder)
- Jamal Murray, G (Nuggets)
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker, G (Timberwolves)
- Andrew Nembhard, G (Pacers)
- RJ Barrett, G/F (Raptors)
- Luguentz Dort, G/F (Thunder)
- Dillon Brooks, F (Rockets)
- Melvin Ejim, F (Unicaja)
- Trey Lyles, F (Kings)
- Kelly Olynyk, F/C (Raptors)
- Dwight Powell, F/C (Mavericks)
- Khem Birch, C (Girona)
While the group obviously isn’t as star-studded as the U.S. roster, it’s headed up by a 2024 MVP finalist (Gilgeous-Alexander) and a guard who was the second-best player on the 2023 NBA champions (Murray). In total, it features 10 active NBA players, and all of them played regular roles for their respective teams in 2023/24.
The only two non-NBA players are Birch, who spent six seasons in the league but now plays in Spain, and Ejim, a former Iowa State standout and a Team Canada veteran who has been a productive contributor for several teams in Europe since 2014.
Andrew Wiggins is among the notable names missing from Team Canada’s squad for Paris. He was on the original training camp roster but withdrew right before camp began due to what the Warriors referred to a mutual decision. Various reports, however, suggested that Golden State was the party driving that decision.
Grizzlies rookie Zach Edey also removed his name from the training camp roster in order to focus on Summer League and his first NBA season.
Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe and Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin, both of whom were coming off injuries that ended their 2023/24 seasons, were among the players who attended training camp but weren’t in the mix for roster spots for the Paris Olympics. Timberwolves forward Leonard Miller was in that group too.
This will be the first time Canada has been in the men’s basketball event at the Olympics since 2000.