One of the prevailing themes of this past summer in professional basketball was countless NBA stars and players removing themselves from contention for their home countries at the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China.
Denver Nuggets point guard and Canadian Jamal Murray did not compete for Team Canada at the World Cup. On Tuesday, however, he announced on social media that he intends to play for his nation at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
“Playing for my country is always an honour and I want to take the step and leadership role to commit to Canada basketball this summer,” the 22-year-old Murray wrote on Twitter today. “I want to play my part to help push our team into the Olympics and compete at the highest world stage. Let’s go Canada.”
Murray earned a bronze medal with the Canadian Under-16 team in 2013 in Uruguay and competed for the national team in 2015 in the Pan American Games, winning silver.
After breaking through the scene at the NBA level with the Nuggets, however, Murray has yet to participate with the senior team in the World Cup or Olympics (Canada lost to France in the quarter-finals of the 2016 Olympics).
Murray is averaging 18.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 5.0 assists in 33.5 minutes per game this 2019-20 season with the Nuggets, all career best numbers. He is also shooting 43.4 percent from the field, 36.5 percent from 3-point range, and 88.6 percent from the free throw line through 15 games this campaign.
Besides Murray though, Canada has a crop of young players that could be featured at the world's biggest stage for international basketball. Canada is also home to young NBA players like RJ Barrett, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Brandon Clarke, Cory Joseph and the more veteran players like Tristan Thompson and Andrew Wiggins.
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