Nickeil Alexander-Walker of Team Canada drives past Victor Wembanyama of Team France during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker of Team Canada drives past Victor Wembanyama of Team France during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Canada’s men’s basketball team will once again be without familiar faces as it continues to push toward a berth in next year’s World Cup.
Canada will hit the road for a game Thursday in Panama and another at home Monday at Quebec City against Argentina with only a pair of current NBA players — reigning Most Improved Player Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Montreal’s Lu Dort — as well as veteran big men Kelly Olynyk (who is currently without a contract) and former Raptor Khem Birch.
The rest of the team will feature Canadians hooping overseas like big man Mfiondu Kabengele as well as Trae Bell-Haynes, Marcus Carr and long-time participants Kyle Wiltjer and Thomas Scrubb.
While two-time NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander suited up alongside fellow NBAers Dillon Brooks, Andrew Nembhard, his brother Ryan Nembhard, Kyshawn George and Leonard Miller for two Canada wins at Hamilton earlier this summer, running the team’s record to a perfect 6-0 in qualifying with three windows to go, of the biggest names, only Alexander-Walker has stayed on for these contests.
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That shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, as general manager Rowan Barrett has noted many times over the years, before repeating on a media call Tuesday, that while Canada would love to have its best for every window, reality also has to come into play and that’s just never going to be possible.
“There are timeframes that you just do not have athletes available to you, like November and February,” Barrett said on the call. “You don’t have your NBA athletes. November and February, you might not have your EuroLeague athletes based on schedule, and so you always have to be dipping into your pool to put together your best possible team.”
How many guys are in Canada’s player pool?
He had introduced a 23-man group back in June in Toronto, but has said the pool they draw from is actually more like 50 because of all the variables at play.
“It’s almost like a relay race, right? One guy’s got to carry the baton. To the next guy, get it to the next guy to get it around the track, and it’s a little bit what this structure forces you to do,” Barrett said.
“But there’s also challenges with injuries. We have multiple players injured … We have some athletes that are just entering a return to play protocol, where they’re just starting to go five on five this week, and so you know with them and with respect to them and their teams, there’s just no way that they could could come and play right now.
”Additionally, you have some athletes that are dealing with fatigue/ As we shared, the proximity to the NBA season makes it really difficult for some of our guys. And you know, you look at them out there playing; we can see them, and just the body breaking down a little bit.”
The father of Raptors wing RJ Barrett — who did not play the Hamilton games and won’t be available for these ones either, though he will attend the one in Quebec City — knows that many question why players aren’t always available, but hopes his explanations of the many factors at play help to shed some light on it.
There are often contractual issues at play (Bennedict Mathurin, who would love to play at home, is waiting to sign a new deal and, like the younger Barrett, will only watch the game in Quebec), or family situations, or combinations of various reasons.
What are Canada’s chances?
Still, Canada is in good shape. Of the 12 teams still in contention in the Americas, only Canada and Brazil enter this window unbeaten (USA, Argentina and Uruguay are each 5-1, with the Americans in Group E with Brazil, the other two with Canada in Group F).
Everyone else in Group F is 2-4 and the Top 3 in each group qualify for the World Cup, so it would take an epic collapse not to get there at this point, regardless of who is on the roster.
“We’ve kind of managed all those complexities like we always do and we put together the best possible roster that we can in the moment,” Barrett said.
“There’s some continuity from our earlier window … We feel that it will be a strong group. Our focus is still the same. Our plan is to win games and to qualify,” he said, adding that “eight to nine wins can get it done … nine wins is just a guarantee that you’re in.”
“Right now, our focus is just to qualify as fast and as soon as possible.”
The World Cup will be held in Doha, Qatar, and the distance to get there, on top of all the factors Barrett lined out Tuesday, should once again lead to a number of roster subtractions in 2027. But that’s a long way off and plenty of top Canadian talent likely will be there, aiming to send a message ahead of the highly anticipated 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
The two coming games will provide Alexander-Walker a chance to play a featured role, something he did for the Atlanta Hawks in his breakout 2025-26 season, and will also give the veteran Olynyk a bigger role and a chance to show NBA scouts he still has it.
Canada finished third at the previous World Cup, beating the Americans and Luka Doncic’s Slovenia, as well as mighty Spain along the way.
The last two qualifying windows for 2027 will be in early November and late February.