The upcoming year projects to be a mammoth one for Canadian basketball, extending well beyond the Toronto Raptors winning their first NBA championship.
While this NBA Draft has been publicized as lacking depth, this is easily the deepest group of Canadian talent entering the NBA. The record for most Canadians selected in a single draft is four in 2014 — Andrew Wiggins, Nik Stauskas, Tyler Ennis and Dwight Powell. On Thursday, they may surpass that record in the first round alone.
There are currently seven projected Canadian players in the Rookie Wire Mock Draft, and up to 10 with a legitimate shot at either being drafted or ending up on an NBA roster at some point in time. With Nick Nurse set to coach Canada’s 2019 World Cup team, this is full of players who either have worn the red and white or may do so in the future.
Canada is now at the point where they will have a National Team full of NBA roster players, a remarkable feat considering that there had been just nine Canadians drafted from 1983-2009, doubling to 18 drafted from 2010-2018.
Here are some names to remember in Thursday’s NBA Draft with some information about their high schools and upbringing. Click on the name to get a full profile:
R.J. Barrett – Duke (6’6, 210 lbs)
Andrew Wiggins set a pretty high bar as the most accomplished Canadian prep player and R.J. Barrett seemed to surpass that with his pre-college achievements.
Barrett led Canada basketball to its first-ever Men’s Gold Medal in the U19 World Championships in Cairo, with a massive 38-point and 13-rebound performance in Canada’s semifinal win over the United States. He nearly swept postseason player of the year awards as a high school senior, leading Montverde to a GEICO High School National Championship and also helping lead the World Team to a Nike Hoop Summit win.
While Barrett was the unanimous #1 player in the RSCI high school rankings, he took a backseat to Duke teammate Zion Williamson. As Williamson posted the most dominant college season of recent memory, Barrett also starred during his lone college season and was a consensus First Team All-American.
His father, Rowan Barrett, is a former professional basketball player with a history with the Canadian National team. The senior Barrett also is the current executive vice president and assistant general manager with Canada basketball.
Brandon Clarke – Gonzaga (6’8, 210 lbs)
Clarke was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, though moved to Phoenix at only the age of 3. Despite having spent most of his life in the United States, Clarke would be a tremendous asset to Team Canada if he decides to play for the Canadian National Team.
His underdog story is rather uncanny, as he was a 6-foot-6, 175-pound high school senior at Desert Vista, garnering a single NCAA offer from San Jose State. After a star turn as a sophomore in the Mountain West, Clarke transferred to Gonzaga, re-tooling his shot and working on his game outside of the paint.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker – Virginia (6’5, 210 lbs)
Alexander-Walker is the third Canadian invited to the NBA Draft’s green room and will join his cousin, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, in the NBA next season.
The Scarborough native was incredibly close to his cousin and played with him in high school at Hamilton Heights Christian Academy (Tennessee) and again during the 2016 U18 FIBA Americas Tournament, where Canada won a Silver Medal.
He has an outside shot at being taken in the NBA Draft lottery, and with his green room invite, it is very likely he will at least be chosen in the mid-first round.
Mfiondu Kabengele – Florida St. (6’10, 255 lbs)
The big man from Burlington, Ontario, was a crucial sixth man for the Florida State Seminoles, who reached the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
He graduated from Corpus Christi High School (Burlington, Ontario, Canada), where he averaged averaged 14.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists as a senior, before playing a post-grad year at Bosco Institute (Indiana).
There, he averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 53/38/81, according to his Florida State bio.
Luguentz Dort – Arizona St. (6’4, 225 lbs)
Dort’s physical dimensions are reminiscent of Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart and Chicago Bulls guard Rawle Alkins, with fantastic strength for a guard with some length and toughness to spare.
The Montreal-born Dort played at a couple of Florida prep schools before returning to Canada to play for Athlete Institute during his last year of high school. He was twice named the MVP of the BioSteel All-Canadian Game during his last two high school seasons.
Ignas Brazdeikis – Michigan (6’7, 220 lbs)
With unflappable confidence and aggressive nature as a scorer, Brazdeikis put together a very impressive freshman season for Michigan. He was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, though his family would eventually settle in Canada, particularly Etobicoke and then Oakville, Ontario.
Brazdeikis played for Canada’s Silver Medal winning U16 team in the 2015 FIBA Americas as well. He also was twice named the MVP of the Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association while at Orangeville Prep, playing a nice role in the World Teams 2018 Hoop Summit victory.
Oshae Brissett – Syracuse (6’8, 205 lbs)
Born in Toronto, Brissett played at Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nevada) before moving back to Canada to play at Athlete Institute.
During the 2017 season there, he was named the All-Canadian High School Player of the Year and led the team to a 24-9 record, according to his Syracuse bio. While at Findlay Prep, he helped the team go a combined 57-5 over his sophomore and junior seasons.
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