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Minnesota Timberwolves small forward Andrew Wiggins sought and received money to play for the Canadian national team, according to Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun.
Andrew Wiggins played in the 2015 FIBA Americas. The swingman called Canada’s semifinal loss to Venezuela the “worst loss” of his career at the time. He hasn’t played for the Canadians since.
The back-and-forth went something like this: If you want Andrew to play, it’s going to cost you money. And if you want Andrew, you’re going to want his brothers, too. This wasn’t your typical tryout invitation and recruiting session. This was part-negotiation, part-stick-up, or so the story goes.
And Canada Basketball did what it believed was necessary at the time. It apparently paid decent money for Wiggins to play for Team Canada. No one will tell you how much is pretty good money, but an organization without a lot of cash, had to come up with some.
You can't blame Andrew Wiggins. Putting your body on the line for your national team is no small joke, and if you get hurt (i.e Paul George), you risk the possibility of losing game checks from your NBA team.
Team USA players are not paid for their participation. Back in 2012, Dwyane Wade and Ray Allen brought up that players should be paid due to the traveling and wear and tear their bodies take during the Olympic games.
Looks like Andrew Wiggins liked where Wade and Allen's heads were at and took it upon himself to start a new trend. It will be interesting to see if USA players start to do this as well now.
