Canadian Players who are Thriving in the NBA

Wiggins (Canadian Player ) hits a 3-pointer on the first possession of the game.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the biggest Basketball organization in the world, it is the pinnacle of the sport and the level every aspiring basketball player wants to reach. Players from all around the world dream of reaching the very top of the sport and even though it is primarily representative of America, there are plenty of players from even the most obscure Nationalities, like Sudan, Tanzania, Guinea, and even Luxembourg.

Today, however, we will be taking a look at players from one place in particular, Canada. At the time of writing, there are currently sixty-one Canadian players playing their trade in the NBA and some have absolutely thrived like 27-year-old Andrew Wiggins who won rookie of the year in 2015 and won his first Championship in 2022, but we’ll go into that a little deeper shortly. To begin with, we’ll put together a list of our top 5 Canadian players and then break it down athlete by athlete.

1. Andrew Wiggins – 27 Years Old – Vaughan, Ontario
2. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – 24 Years Old – Toronto, Ontario
3. Jamal Murray – 25 Years Old – Kitchener, Ontario
4. Dillon Brooks – 27 Years Old – Mississauga, Ontario
5. RJ Barrett – 22 Years Old – Toronto, Ontario

So here’s our list, starting from the bottom and working our way to our number 1 spot, we’re going to start with RJ Barret.

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RJ Barrett

RJ Barrett currently plays as a shooting guard/small forward for the New York Knicks. As a youngster, he won a fair few awards, including national high school player of the year in 2018 and the FIBA Under-19 World Cup MVP award in 2017.

As a professional, he has played a fair few minutes already, even at 22 years old. Since signing for the Knicks in the 2019-20 season, he has featured in 240 games, starting 239 of them and averaging around 33.7 minutes per game and averaging 18 points in that time. The Knicks have arguably wanted to see more from Barrett but, in such a short space of time he has made himself a staple of the Knicks lineup and at 22 years old he still has a lot to offer.

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Dillon Brooks

The second shooting guard/small forward on the list, 27-year-old Dillon Brooks has been playing for the Memphis Grizzlies since making his NBA debut in the 2017-18 season. Since that time he has made 315 appearances, starting in 288 of those games averaging 28.5 minutes per game and putting up an average of 14.7 points per game. He has also played and started in 16 games in the playoffs for the Grizzlies, putting up 18.1 points in 31.9 minutes. Not bad. Brooks has impressed for the Grizzlies but like RJ Barrett, could offer a lot more if things truly click for him.

Jamal Murray

Jamal Murray is yet another shooting guard but also plays point guard for the Denver Nuggets. He has represented the Nuggets since the 2016-17 season and has made 386 appearances, starting 311 of those games. He averaged 30.3 minutes and 16.6 points across those games. When it comes to the playoffs, he has 33 starts in 33 games with 38.2 minutes and 24.3 point averages, so he ramps things up in the playoffs, a big game player it seems!

One thing to note about Murray is on April 12th 2021 he suffered a torn ACL, which kept him out until October 19th 2022. He looked a little shaky on his return but, after a season-ending injury that kept him out for the entire 21-22 season, I really don’t think you can complain with performances like 21 points including a game-winning 3-pointers against the Trail Blazers and a 34-point game against the Lakers, can you?

With all of these players set to feature in the NBA this coming week, now seems like a good time to take a look at some of the upcoming fixtures featuring these Canadian players. Starting from the first players with an upcoming game from the bottom of our list, Dillon Brooks and the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies take on Andrew Wiggins and the Golden State Warriors at the Chase Center in San Francisco. For this one, the Warriors come out on top at -155 favourites, returning $8.22 from a $5 stake, while the Grizzlies are +135 returning $11.75 from the same stake.

For our next game, we have Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets. Checking out the best regulated Ontario betting apps we found that, on their upcoming game in Milwaukee against the Bucks, the Bucks are heavy favourites at -320, returning $6.56 from a $5 stake, while the Nuggets are +260 underdogs returning $18 from the same stake. Finally, we have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder who host the Atlanta Hawks, the Thunder are underdogs here at +105 returning $10.25 from $5 with the Hawks being -125 favourites returning $9 from the same stake.

Since we’re here it’s worth taking a look at what chance the experts are giving these teams of going all the way and lifting the trophy at the end of the season, starting with the Knicks, they are +15000 returning $755, then the Grizzlies are +900 returning $50. Next are the Nuggets at +750 returning $42.50 and the Thunder are +25000 returning $1,255. Finally, the Warriors are also +900 returning $50, not bad odds on them going back to back really. For reference the current favourites are the Celtics at +350 returning $22.50, all of the above returns were based on a stake of $5

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Another shooting guard/point guard in this list, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made his NBA debut for the LA Clippers in the 2018-19 season before moving to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2019-20 season, since making his debut Shai has played in 286 games starting all but 9 of them for the Clippers, putting in 32.4 minute and 20.1 point averages, however, his average points per game has been steadily improving!

This season through 43 games he is on a 30.7-point per-game average! At 24 years old Gilgeous-Alexander could be considered one for the future but given everything we’ve seen so far and his current rate of improvement? He could be putting his name in the hat for MVP as close as next season!

Andrew Wiggins

Finally, we get to the number 1 spot, Andrew Wiggins plays as a small forward, currently representing the Golden State Warriors, however, he made his debut in the NBA for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2014-15 season since then he has played in 627 games, starting every single one of them, he has 34.9 minute and 19.2 point averages he has played in the playoffs in 2 separate seasons however, in the 2021-22 season, he started all 22 games averaging 34.9 minutes and 16.5 points in a season where the Warriors won the championship.

His performances this season added an All-Star appearance to his list of career highlights which include his 2015 rookie of the year award and Big 12 Freshman of the Year award in 2014. Wiggins has achieved a lot in the sport and at 27 years old he still has many years ahead of him, could he win more championships? Has he peaked? Or can Wiggins cement his name in the history of the game?

That’s going to do it for this one, what do you think of our list? Are there any players that you folks think deserve to be in this top 5? If we expanded it to the greatest Canadian players of all time you could definitely expand the list a little bit and some of these players wouldn’t make it. But for what it’s worth I think this list of the top 5 Canadian players currently thriving in the NBA is pretty accurate. Maybe we can see some of the young blood from the NCAAB coming into this list in the next few years, with a lot of good young talent in the College scene.