Medal hopes for Canadian basketball team surge in Paris

Olympic Basketball has been dominated by the United States since the sport’s first appearance at the Games, in 1936 in Berlin. In the 20 Olympics that have included men’s basketball, the Americans have won 16 gold medals.

Their losses have been almost as memorable as the wins. The team lost to the Soviet Union in Munich in 1972 in controversial fashion, and the team has refused ever since to accept their silver medals. The team did not attend the 1980 Games in Moscow due to boycott. And losses in 1988 and 2004 triggered professional involvement, and USA Basketball recalibration.

Thus, the Dream Team of 1992 with Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird was born, and the Redeem Team of 2008 with Kobe Bryant, Lebron James and Dwyane Wade was designed.

And so it is, in 2024, in Paris, that the Americans produce a star-studded roster including James in his 4th Olympiad, Steph Curry in his 1st, as well as Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Edwards and Joel Embiid.

But it’s a sparkling team from Canada that is sharing the headlines, and the medal expectations.

Incredibly, Canada also won a medal in basketball in those historic 1936 games, a silver after a 19-8 defeat to the USA. (Yes, 19-8 was the final score. Did they use peach baskets?)

More amazingly, Canada has not medalled in basketball since. Its best finish was 4th place in Montreal in 1976 and 4th again in Los Angeles in 1984. Canada had not qualified for the Olympics since Sydney in 2000, when Steve Nash led a plucky team to the quarterfinals, where it succumbed to France, and the brilliant point guard from Victoria, BC was escorted off the court in tears by his teammates.

But the tide has turned in Canadian basketball. For the first time, Canada placed on the podium at the FIBA Basketball World Cup, garnering a bronze medal in Manila in 2023 after a gutsy overtime win against the USA.

The national team is led by perhaps its most dynamic player ever, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a 25-year-old guard out of Toronto who recently led the Oklahoma City Thunder to 1st place in the NBA’s Western Conference and finished in 2nd place in the league’s Most Valuable Player voting. Averaging over 30 points per game in each of the last two NBA seasons indicates SGA is one of the world’s best players, capable of stealing the show in Paris.

But SGA is not the only medal hopeful on the Canadian side. He is flanked on the court by NBA champion Jamal Murray, a silver medallist at the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games, when he had just graduated from high school in Kitchener. Other NBA players on the roster include RJ Barrett and Kelly Olynyk of the Toronto Raptors, both brimming with international experience, and more tried and true players with NBA playoff experience including Lu Dort, Dillon Brooks, Andrew Nembhard and Dwight Powell.

There’s a good argument that this is the best Canadian basketball team ever assembled when assessing its talent, depth, leadership and experience. That said, it wouldn’t be surprising if Canada didn’t emerge from Group A, a power-packed collection of teams including Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece, 2020 bronze medallists Australia, and Spain, who medalled in 2008, 2012 and 2016. All four teams are medal threats in Paris and the group has rightly earned “Group of Death” assignment from basketball observers, including The Sporting News.

The Paris 2024 Olympic basketball tournament promises to be as competitive an event as there has been, featuring superstars and legends, great teams and memorable finishes. Domination by any country is unlikely, almost every team has legitimate medal hopes and Canada will be one of the most talked about teams. For world basketball, this is the beginning of a golden age.

Canada’s first game is Saturday, July 27 against Greece, 3:00 pm Eastern time on TSN.

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