Wiggins: I’m playing for Canada this summer

Andrew-Wiggins;-Minnesota-Timberwolves;-NBA

Andrew Wiggins (left) says he will play for Canada this summer.

Canadian basketball star Andrew Wiggins says he will play for the national team this summer.

The Minnesota Timberwolves forward, who will be making his senior national team debut, will headline an ascending roster that is expected to feature several of the top Canadian players in a tuneup for Olympic qualifying.

The 20-year-old averaged 16.8 points per game on 43.6 percent shooting in his rookie season with the Timberwolves. He is the favourite to win the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award.

The Vaughan, Ont., native was originally selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft but was traded to Minnesota this past August in a blockbuster deal for power forward Kevin Love.

Anthony Bennett, Wiggins’ teammate with the Timberwolves, is expected to be on the Canadian roster as well.

“Definitely, yeah,” he told reporters before a Timberwolves game in Toronto earlier this season. “We have definitely a lot of talent in Canada. Especially upcoming. We’ve just got to get together in the summer and put all the talent on the team.”

Bennett was born in Toronto and grew up in Brampton.

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