RJ Barrett was born for this moment. His father played for Canada at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and two FIBA world championships, and also built Canada Basketball as a senior executive and general manager.
RJ grew up in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, trained with NBA MVP Steve Nash (the pride of Victoria, BC), played at Duke alongside Zion Williamson, and went third in the draft to the New York Knicks. A few years later, New York traded him and Immanuel Quickley to Toronto for OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa and Malachi Flynn. RJ also starred for Team Canada at the FIBA World Cup 2019 in Manila, scoring 23 points and hitting a three to seal Canada’s victory over the USA in the bronze medal game to give its first ever FIBA world cup medal.
In RJ’s budding career, nothing is bigger than the bounce off the rim in overtime of Game 6 in Toronto. Cleveland’s radio announcer initially said that RJ missed the shot. It hit the back rim and bounced high above the backboard. With 20,000 Toronto fans screaming or gasping, the air somehow found a way to coax the ball straight down and through the mesh to give Toronto its biggest playoff victory in years.
Raptors fans immediately recalled the “Kawhi shot” when his last-second fade away jumper somehow danced with the rim and then went down to give the Raptors the series over the Philadelphia Sixers. The Raptors went on to beat Milwaukee and then Golden State in the 2019 NBA finals. The Raptors back then believed that luck was with them. Indeed, the Warriors couldn’t overcome injuries to Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson in that series.
If luck is with the Raptors again, they’ll need it in Game 7 in Cleveland, where the Raptors have lost 10 straight playoff games, mainly in the LeBron James era. Even if they lose the series, Raptors fans are confident that this new group of young players can take them back to the NBA Finals in years to come.
Fans across Canada can’t wait to see RJ, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Dillon Brooks, Lu Dort and the rest of Team Canada challenge USA, France, Germany and other contenders at future FIBA events.
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