''It’s in my blood. I hope to play as long as I can.'' Canada's RJ Barrett hopes to follow his dad's Olympic footsteps
Rowan Barrett was a key member of Canada's last Olympic team in 2000. In addition to hearing his dad's stories about the Games, he's looking to lead Canada to Tokyo 2020.
VICTORIA (Canada) - RJ Barrett doesn’t have any memories of the 2000 Summer Olympics. But he’s heard his dad’s stories.
Barrett was a baby back then, just a few months old when his dad and Team Canada went to Sydney for the Olympics. Twenty-one years later, Rowan Barrett’s No. 9 Canada jersey hangs framed in the Barretts’ home. RJ Barrett’s No. 9 Canada jersey hangs on his 6ft 6in body.
RJ Barrett, one of eight active NBA players on Canada’s roster, is motivated to get the national team back to the Olympics, where it hasn’t been since Rowan Barrett, Steve Nash and Co. took it there two decades ago. The Canadians can punch their ticket to Tokyo by winning this week’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament on their home turf.
"Definitely exciting. I’m overwhelmed," RJ Barrett said. "We get to do it on Canadian soil."
RJ Barrett, 21, has played for Team Canada since 2015, but the Olympic Qualifiers will mark his debut with the senior squad. He averaged 21.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game to earn tournament MVP and lead Canada to the gold medal at the FIBA U19 World Cup four years ago, an achievement he calls “one of the most special basketball moments in my life.”
Many NBA players don’t return to international action once they launch their pro careers – be it by choice or a lack of opportunity – but it’s different for Barrett.
His dad, in addition to his feats as a Canadian player, is the general manager of the Canadian national team. RJ doesn’t go into detail on the memories his dad has shared with him from the 2000 Olympics, putting it simply: "He said it’s an experience he’ll never forget."
"Anytime I can give back to my country, that’s what I try to do," RJ Barrett said. "It’s in my blood. I hope to play as long as I can."
Barrett’s long-term commitment to the national team has to be replicated, coach Nick Nurse said, if Canada want to challenge other top nations. Nurse debuted with the national team at the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
Barrett was injured and didn’t play. Neither did many of his high-profile counterparts. Canada went 1-2 and didn’t advance out of group play.
Barrett debuted for team Canada at the 2015 FIBA U16 Americas Championship as a 14-year-old.
"The importance of him playing through the youth, junior teams, etc., and continuing to carry on, is big, and we need to establish a core of those guys," Nurse said. "Any of the really good teams, from Spain to Australia to Lithuania, those guys play for a number of years, the same group of guys.
"You are able to grow with a team, and we need that kind of commitment a little bit more across the board."
Tuesday’s tournament opener against Greece will be Barrett’s first game in Canada since 2019. He and the New York Knicks didn’t travel to Toronto, the NBA’s lone Canadian city and Barrett’s birthplace, in 2020 or 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Victoria is more than 4,000 kilometers from Toronto, but it’s still home.
"I haven’t been home in a while," Barrett said. "This, with Canada on your chest, there’s no other feeling like it."
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