Jamie Nye: Where is the Canadian pride?

It bothers me that more Canadian pros aren’t playing for Canada for the World Cup of basketball.

Cory Joseph and Khem Birch are about it when it comes to pros on team Canada. Yes, there were injuries to players like Kyle Olynick, but when you see the NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo playing for Greece, you wonder why more Canadian pros like Andrew Wiggins, Trey Lyles or Jamaal Murray aren’t there for Canada more often.

Especially when this is a major qualifier for the upcoming Olympics. And you’d know they’d be there if it were the Olympics. Now that Canada is out of this tournament, the Olympics looks further away from happening.

Steve Nash used to play and play hard for Canada. It was an awesome Olympic run for Nash back in 2000, starting with a 4-1 record before finishing 7th, but that was the last time Canada was in the Olympics.

We brag about the growth of the game in Canada, but it will go nowhere until bigger names than Cory Joseph start showing up for the national team.