5 Takeaways From Team Canada’s Disappointing Olympic Summer

The summer of basketball is over for the red and white. Canada basketball went to France with three teams and will return to home soil from the Olympics medal-less. For the women, the senior team marked the end of an era. The 3×3 team signified the beginning of one. But for the senior men’s team, a highly touted roster with expectations of a medal fell short of their ambitions, dominated and eliminated by the French in Paris in the Quarterfinals after going undefeated in their group – an eerily similar fate to the last time the senior men’s team made it that far in the Olympics.

There’s no question that the path to their lofty goals was tough. From the onset, they were slotted into the ‘Group of Death’ with top-tier international programs like Spain, Australia, and a Greek team led by a motivated Giannis Antetokounmpo. Still, they scrapped their way to three wins and, due to point differential, were gifted a grueling knockout stage path that would force them to play the hometown French and the defending World Champions Germany to get to the Gold Medal game.

But in a perfect storm against France in the quarterfinals, Canada fell short of even getting to that point.

They shot just 24% from behind the arc. Despite Rudy Gobert only playing 4 minutes and limiting Victor Wembanyama to just 7 points, the French size advantage was apparent. Officiating will be questioned in this game after the French attempted 42 freebies, but overall, it was the bad shooting, bad turnovers, sloppy play, and little-to-no cohesion that zapped the life out of Canada’s Olympic dreams.

For now.

It’s easy to be doom and gloom at this particular moment. This is a disappointing result for the program, no question. But there is more investment into Canadian basketball than ever before. From a funding and developmental perspective, the pipeline shows a bright future. This gut punch is only a testament to the fact that you can be well-funded, well-prepared, star-studded, and deep, and yet still; sports can be cruel and unforgiving.

Canada’s ‘Golden Era’ coincided with the deepest international basketball tournament ever. Sometimes, thems the breaks — a heartbreaker and harsh reality that has settled into Canadian basketball fans everywhere.

That said, let’s look forward to what the bright, unknown future holds for Canada basketball.

The Best Is Yet To Come For The Women

These Olympics marked the end of an era for the senior women’s team. Natalie Achonwa has likely played in her final international game for Canada. Kia Nurse and Shay Colley are 28 years old, and Kayla Alexander is 33. But Aaliyah Edwards, who came off the bench for Canada in this tournament, is still a rookie in the WNBA at 22 years old. Syla Swords will be attending her first year at Michigan this upcoming season, and Cassandre Prosper has spent two seasons at Notre Dame battling injuries. It was essential that all three players got some much-needed Olympic experience this summer, and they did. Toby Fournier is a couple of years away from being considered for the senior team. Still, she is one of many promising Canadian women hoopers coming down the pipeline as the program preps for its real run in 2028 for the Los Angeles Olympic Games.

The same goes for the 3×3 team. The Plouffe sisters helped introduce the sport to the country. Still, as the women’s game continues to grow, with a WNBA team coming to Toronto in 2026, there will be more opportunities to filter through more players and give them more opportunities through the 3×3 format.

The women fell short of expectations this summer – but it’s only the beginning of their game in Canada. The future is bright, and the sky is the limit.

Size, The Decider

When it was announced that Canadian big man Zach Edey had removed himself from the national team this summer to focus on his upcoming rookie season in the NBA, it became apparent: size was going to be an issue for the team. For the most part, it didn’t seem much of a factor through their three group-stage games. Sure, they could have used Edey’s size to deter Giannis at the rim or battle with Willy Hernangomez in the post – but Canada left those games unscathed.

Unfortunately, it reared its ugly head at the worst possible time against France in the quarterfinals. Canada’s switch-heavy defense created easy mismatches in the post for the likes of Guerschon Yabusele and Mathias Lessort, who combined for 33 points – 12 of which came in the paint and 17 from the free-throw line. To prevent dribble penetration and rotate over to Wembanyama in time, Canada conceded switches that forced Jamal Murray and Andrew Nembhard to deal with the bigger bodies of France, leading to far too many easy looks. That spilled over on offense, too. The size and length of the French team limited Canada’s paint touches, caused turnovers and ill-advised passes, and the presence of Wembanyama hampered Canada’s overall shot quality in the game.

Their Achilles heal came back to haunt them.

Jamal Murray, Questions Ahead

This wasn’t exactly the Olympic summer Jamal Murray would have hoped for. He was slow out the gate, missed a couple of exhibition games for Canada, and never really got into a rhythm throughout the tournament. He flat-out struggled through 4 games off the bench, averaging 6 points, three rebounds, and 3.8 assists, shooting 29% from the field, and finished 2-of-14 from behind the arc. Before the Olympics, Murray, who seemingly always rose to the occasion in the post-season, struggled in the Denver Nuggets’ latest playoff run, shooting 40% from the field and 32% from three in 12 games. For a 27-year-old player who hasn’t played more than 65 regular season games since 2018 and has gone through multiple knee injuries – it’s fair to be concerned about his future outlook, not just for Canada basketball in 2028 but for the Nuggets and their championship window until then.

There was a report that Murray and the Nuggets were working on an extension, but those talks were halted so that he could focus on Olympic basketball. But after how hobbled he looked, it’s fair to wonder whether that raised some eyebrows in the Nuggets front office.

Still, you want to give Murray the benefit of the doubt. He was never really given a chance to heal after Denver’s most recent post-season run, and some time off could prove helpful. However, for Canada, Murray’s availability and commitment moving forward might be a question as he enters a different phase of his career and as Denver tries to pursue another championship.

RJ Barrett, Steps Taken

A consistent bright spot for the Canadians this summer was the play of RJ Barrett – who averaged nearly 20 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists while shooting nearly 44% from three and having a true-shooting percentage of 70 through 4 games for Canada. He was effective, persistent, and dominant as Canada’s second option behind their intrepid star, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who continued to shine despite the disappointing end result.

Barrett is playing the best basketball of his career heading into his sixth season in the NBA (and his first full one with the Toronto Raptors). He’s coming off a 32-game stretch with the Raptors that only helped further cement the idea that there is even more untapped potential in the 24-year-old than meets the eye.

How much of his international success this summer translates to his NBA game? He told me before the Olympics that organized basketball during the off-season allows him to build momentum ahead of the season. We’ll see if that pans out as Barrett continues to be a pillar for the Canadian program and will likely be one of its most important players as they start to prep for 2028.

2028 Roster/Incoming Talent

Speaking of 2028, again, the future is bright. There’s no question that this senior men’s team was the most talented roster the country had ever assembled, but it wasn’t the most talented roster they could have created. Besides Edey, the team was also missing wing Andrew Wiggins, who was presumably held out of summer basketball due to his name being caught up in trade rumors in Golden State. At training camp, they incorporated Bennedict Mathurin, Shaedon Sharpe, and Leonard Miller, but none of the young Canadians were considered for the actual roster. Will Riley, the 18-year-old Canadian who will be attending the University of Illinois this season, will likely be a lottery pick in the 2025 NBA draft. Both Barrett and the 24-year-old Andrew Nembhard had impressive Olympic runs this summer and will be entering their primes come 2028. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, shockingly, will only be 30 by the time the next Olympic Games turns around, and Canada’s trusty wings, Lu Dort and Dillon Brooks, will be 29 and 32, respectively. Their current core will be in their prime for Los Angeles. And their young talent pool should be more than enough to replace the aging-out Dwight Powell, Kelly Olynyk, Melvin Ejim, and Khem Birch.

That doesn’t guarantee you anything, though. France will be better in 2028. The United States will continue to turn out its best and brightest. So, while Canada has slowly caught up talent-wise, so has the rest of the world. The path only becomes more difficult from here on out despite the influx of talent on its way.

It’s natural to feel a sense of dread after this summer for Canada Basketball.

These Olympic games were 24 years in the making and ended with the same result.

But progress isn’t linear. Neither is development. And while the road ahead is uncertain and unpaved, there’s one thing every Canadian basketball fan can take solace in:

It’s only the beginning.