Shaedon Sharpe Expected to be a 'Big Part' of Canada Basketball's Future

📍 LAS VEGAS — Shaedon Sharpe’s maiden voyage with Canada Basketball is not going to end with a trip to the Paris Olympics later this month. But after spending a week with the national team in Toronto for the opening of their training camp, it’s clear he’s strongly in their plans going forward.

When Canada announced its training camp roster last month, Sharpe was not among the 20 players in the running for one of the 12 roster spots for the Olympic team. But he was listed, along with Indiana Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin, as participating in training camp “to gain valuable Senior Men’s National Team experience.”

By all accounts, Sharpe made a good impression on the decision-makers with the national team, who gave strong indications that he’s going to have a real shot at playing for Canada in the next cycle, which includes the 2027 FIBA World Cup in Qatar and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“He’s still learning and growing,” Canada Basketball general manager Rowan Barrett said Wednesday morning at shootaround, ahead of that night’s exhibition game against Team USA at T-Mobile Arena. “He’s a phenomenal athlete. The tools are there. He’s just young. But I definitely see good things for his future as well as his future with us.”

Unlike most of the players present in Las Vegas, Sharpe has not been a part of their youth pipeline. He’s also significantly younger, at 21, than any of the players chosen for Paris, which include NBA veterans Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray, Dillon Brooks, Kelly Olynyk and R.J. Barrett.

Sharpe was limited to just 32 games last season with the Trail Blazers after undergoing surgery to address a core muscle injury in February. There was some speculation when the roster was announced that his health was the reason he was left out of the pool of candidates for the Olympic team, and the confusion was understandable given that he was listed alongside Mathurin, who is still recovering from a more serious shoulder surgery.

But Sharpe, according to various Blazers team personnel I’ve talked to in the past month, is fully cleared medically to play. The organization was strongly in favor of Sharpe going to training camp with the national team and would have been thrilled if he’d been one of the 12 players chosen as an Olympian. With Deandre Ayton and the Bahamas falling short in their Olympic qualifying tournament last week and Matisse Thybulle being unexpectedly cut from the Australian national team, Duop Reath (also with Australia) will be the only Blazers representative in Paris.

That could change by 2028. Rayan Rupert isn’t part of the French team this during this cycle but very well could be in four years (he’s got family ties to the program—his sister, Iliana, will be playing for the women’s team in Paris). And if Sharpe continues to progress in his NBA career, as he appeared to be doing before the injury, there’s a good chance he’ll be there with Canada.

“We value him as an important player in the future, being a big part of this program,” Canada head coach Jordi Fernandez told me after the exhibition game against the U.S. “We don’t only care about this tournament. We care about AmeriCup and the World Cup and LA in 2028. We want Shaedon to be a part of that. Everything has to go well with his contract situation and health and team fit, but we believe he can be one of our top players.”

The Blazers have a lot invested in Sharpe as they continue their rebuild. His home country may, too. His week in training camp was the start of what both sides hope will be a long relationship.

“I’ve worked in the NBA for 16 years,” Fernandez said. “I’ve coached against him plenty of times, so I know how good he is. He’s still young and needs to grow in different areas, but he can definitely keep getting better. I’m very excited for him to be a part of our program.