It was another historic night for Canadian basketball. For the first time in league history, two Canadians were selected within the first seven picks of the NBA Draft when Montreal's Bennedict Mathurin and London, Ontario's Shaedon Sharpe heard their names called by the Pacers and Trail Blazers, respectively.
For Mathurin and Sharpe, their shared dream of making it to the NBA came true on draft night, but their paths to get there couldn't have been more different.
Mathurin took the traditional route to the league. A journey that started with the NBA Academy Latin America in Mexico, where he was seasoned and trained by an NBA-level staff, led to two seasons hooping in the NCAA with a talented Arizona Wildcat squad, where he became a household name in the Pac 12. He earned the Pac 12 player of the year award and was named a consensus second-team All-American among other accolades.
At every stop, Mathurin was doubted and tested — and he responded with emphatic results proving he belonged.
Sharpe took the unconventional route — highly unconventional.
The 19-year-old wing was the biggest mystery in the draft. The only tape you could find on him was on the EYBL circuit where he looked dominant at times starring for Uplay, the same club that helped produce RJ Barrett and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. His high school film showed every reason why many believed he would be the No. 1 player in the country in the class of 2023, but high school and AAU are nowhere close to the NBA.
Sharpe arrived in the NCAA a year before he was expected to but elected not to play a single game with the Kentucky Wildcats and famed coach John Calipari, leaving him with no real high-level basketball experience outside of high school and AAU. Sharpe's talent was clearly there, but were there enough tests?
The journey of each Canadian indicates how far the country has come as a basketball nation. There are now multiple entry points into the league at this point for Canadian ballers. It's a completely different landscape than it once was. One can follow the route that Mathurin took, leaving home at an early age to join the NBA Academy, or they can stay at home throughout their high school years and develop like Jamal Murray. Sharpe's path may be a one-off but it's not impossible to forgo college and head to the pros. Just ask Leonard Miller, who's attempting to do it through the G League Ignite program that's produced a lottery pick in each of the last two drafts.
Steve Nash said it: the Golden Age of Canadian basketball is upon us.
The players know it, and the fans feel it too. It's become routine to see a Canadian drafted into the world's best league. In fact, it took me this long to bring up the fact that aside from Mathurin and Sharpe, two more have a shot at making opening night rosters, as Gonzaga standout Andrew Nembhard and Michigan's Caleb Houstan were back-to-back selections in the second round on Thursday night.
And with every passing year, every pick's national pride shines through in each of their answers post-draft.
"I feel like basketball is taking over in Canada just because we've had many draft picks come out of Canada," Sharpe told the media.
"The country is up next," Mathurin told TSN's Kayla Grey. "Having me, Shaedon and hopefully some other Canadians getting drafted, it's really great. My country is up next."
There's truth in both of those statements. Canada is a basketball country and it has been for a while. It will always be a hockey country, but basketball has carved out its part in the nation's fabric. And Canada is up next. The constant wave of talent arriving in the NBA and various leagues around the world screams that. The growth of the CEBL, Canada's FIBA-recognized domestic league, is a part of that. The upcoming GLOBL JAM, a week-long platform and international celebration of the game in Toronto in July, confirms it.
The love, passion and health of basketball are alive and well in Canada even before we get to the country's beloved Raptors.
So what's next? How can Canada stop claiming next up and grab the now?
It all lies with international success. The Canadian men have failed to live up to the hype on the global stage since the dawn of the Global Age. A lot of factors have contributed to that, but the room for excuses is gone. At some point, potential stops being potential.
The rest of the world has heard it now for years — Canada is coming. It's time Canada arrives.
