What if the NBA had a purely Canadian Team?

Written by Ollie Weisstub, 04/21/2025

What if the NBA had a purely Canadian team? How well would they do against other teams?

An article for NBA-fans on the possibility of a strictly Canadian NBA roster

Starters:

*Note this keeps players at their primary positions for this season

Point Guard: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

This pick shouldn’t need any reasoning, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is arguably one of the best and most valuable players in the whole NBA, as the clear head of a near 70 win team averaging upwards of 33 points 5 rebounds and 5 assists per game. Shai is currently the favorite for MVP and plays both ends of the ball, this is a super easy pick.

*Honorable Mention: Jamal Murray (arguably the second best Canadian, unfortunately falls under the same position as the best, Shai.

Shooting Guard: Shaedon Sharpe

Shaedon Sharpe is one of the more underrated young players in the whole NBA, and would make this All-Canadian team's backcourt big. Shaedon is incredibly athletic and a duo of him and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would bring many paint points to the roster as he is a prolific driving threat alongside Shai, who is one of if not the best drivers in the whole NBA. 

*Honorable Mention: Lu Dort (Might be a slightly more valuable player as he is one of the best on ball and overall defenders in the NBA, without other great defenders around him he struggles off-ball and the other Canadians on this list can’t help with that, so I would rather take the strong offense of Shaedon.)

Small Forward: RJ Barrett

RJ Barrett once again is an incredible driver, which is one of the themes of this roster, and he is the best offensive small forward on the list, and his 3 point shot has developed over the season as he now has a fairly consistent shot. 3 point shooting will be a struggle for this team so even a mediocre shooter in RJ will be helpful.

Honorable Mention: Dillon Brooks (While Dillon is clearly a better defensive player and you could argue he fits better with the roster, RJ Barrett is much more skilled offensively and is another prolific driver, and is one of the few players on this list with a real 3 point shot, which makes him more valuable to the team in my opinion.)

 Power Forward: Andrew Wiggins

Andrew Wiggins is a very good and consistent all around threat, who can shoot very well compared to other options, defender very well and drive very well. He is to me by a fair margin the best player available at his position as he does everything very well.

*Honorable Mention: Benedict Mathurin (Benedict Mathurin is another underrated player, and solid all around. He could bring a bit of everything to the team, including adding to the already amazing driving, but to me this season he was almost like a worse version of Andrew Wiggins.)

 Center: Kelly Olynyk

While the center for this team will be an issue as it by far consists of the worst players on the list, but to me Kelly Olynyk is the best player available. He provides a bit more shooting and is one of the few real stretch bigs in the whole NBA which could be useful for this team, but this decision is close.

*Honorable Mention: Zach Edey (Zach is very close to being the starter, and you could argue he is better for the team. This team's worst trait is by far rebounding which is something Zach could bring, he is a bad shooter which is a main weakness of this team and also inexperienced.)

This team is GOOD at:

• Paint Points / Driving

• Scoring

This team is BAD at:

• Defending

(you could build a Canadian team that is much better defensively with players like Lu Dort or Dillon Brooks, but it would be much worse offensively and could struggle)

• Rebounding

(this team is just totally awful rebounding wise, has no solid rebounders, and while it has a fairly big frontcourt it isn’t a generally big team)

My prediction is that this team will… End up with 51 wins and 31 losses and lose in the second round.

This is because while any team with Shai Gilgeous Alexander has to be at worst in the high 40 low 50 win range, and while this team could be good offensively it lacks the defense and rebounding to truly be in the elite tier of teams, so it won’t be a 60 win team. A combination of this and inexperience makes me think this team would be a 3-5 seed with 50 wins, and not be a first round exit but not get past the 2nd round as it would lose to the Celtics, Cavs or Knicks undoubtedly.