Canada Basketball released its 21-player list for training camp on Thursday ahead of the 2021 Olympic qualifying tournament set to be hosted in Victoria, B.C.
Andrew Wiggins and R.J. Barrett headline the list, with 14 NBA players and a handful of Canada’s best international players accepting invitations. Training camp will be held in Tampa between June 16 and 24 at the Toronto Raptors‘ facilities, and the qualifying tournament itself will be played between June 29 and July 4. The list of attending players is below:
Despite the strong turnout, there are a few notable absences. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was one of the first players to commit to the tournament in December of 2019, but he will not be involved this summer likely due to his injury recovery from a torn plantar fascia. Toronto Raptors big man Chris Boucher is also not on the list for reasons unknown. Jamal Murray is also unfortunately out due to a torn ACL suffered in April.
“There is no greater feeling in sports than the chance to represent your country on the highest international stage at the Olympic Games,” said general manager and executive vice president Rowan Barrett in a release. “Our players and staff fully recognize the unique opportunity that lies ahead of us and I would like to commend them for their dedication to playing for Canada this summer.”
Even with some key absences, this is still a very competitive group that will be expected to win the qualifying tournament. Team Canada head coach Nick Nurse will be leading a squad that is magnitudes stronger than what he had available for the 2019 World Cup, and the expectation will be seeing the Canadian men’s team in the Olympics for the first time since 2000. Canada will face China and Greece in the group stage, and then will need to win two more single-elimination games.
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