The NBA has had many stars play the game that have come from north of the American border. Canada has been a great location in which talent has come from and simply made the sport that much better.
While there may only be one team from the Great White North in the Toronto Raptors, there are a number of individuals who have managed to forge a name for themselves while on the court. Indeed, there are some stars currently in the league doing the exact same thing, and we can expect some future ballers from the region to also make their mark on the hardwood court nationwide when they are given the opportunity to do so.
Canada’s star NBA players of the past
Since 1946 just shortly before the league was merged and formed, there have been a total of 62 players from Canada to have played in the league. Among them, there have been some names that are hugely famous and renowned for their basketball abilities.
Despite having been born in South Africa, Steve Nash is perhaps the greatest Canadian to have ever played in the league, and is arguably one of the best to have played the game. He is a Hall of Famer, won the MVP Award on two occasions, and was selected in the All-Star team on eight occasions. The only real blemish on his resume was the fact that he never won the NBA Championship as a player (or coach).
Other players like Robert J. Houbregs and Rick Fox are perhaps some of the famous names that the stars today and of the future may be looking at as individuals they want to replicate in terms of their own careers.
Which Canadian NBA players are the best presently?
The NBA is brimming full of Canadians at the moment, and the future also looks very bright at the moment given the talent that is coming through from the Great White North. According to the latest odds in the Rookie of the Year market at the Unibet Sportsbook, Zach Edey is among the favorites to land the prize in his debut season for the Memphis Grizzlies after being selected #9 in the 2024 Draft from Purdue.
One Canadian who managed to do this was Andrew Wiggins, when he was with the Minnesota Timberwolves after being picked as the #1 overall pick in the 2014 Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers before being traded. Now with the Golden State Warriors, he has been hugely successful on the court, having been an NBA Champion in 2022 and an All-Star in the same year. Earlier in 2024, he became the first Canadian to be born in the country to reach and make 1,000 career threes.
Elsewhere, players like Jamal Murray, Tristan Thompson, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are doing their thing on the court, making Canada a proud nation in terms of their stars in the biggest professional basketball stage.
Could Zach Edey be the next big Canadian superstar?
As mentioned, there appears to be a lot of confidence in what Zach Edey could potentially achieve when he makes his debut in the NBA. Selected as the #9 pick, there may not be as much expectation on him as there may be on French duo, Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr, after they went #1 and #2, but it does seem that many believe the Center could be in store for a solid season.
These expectations will likely boil down from the fact that he enters the league as a two-time College Player of the Year winner. It will also stem from the idea that nobody is in his league when it comes to his playing ability in terms of this year’s class.
During his college days at Purdue, Edey was exceptional when it came to scoring and rebounds, putting up numbers that nobody could compete with. Physically, he even towered over everyone he ever came up against, making him a dominant force on the court.
While the step up to the professional game is going to be a huge leap from college, there is every confidence that Edey can make that jump with ease and perform immediately, hence why he has been made one of the main favorites to win the Rookie of the Year Award this season.
