Canada men's basketball draws Australia in Group A at Paris Olympics

The Canadian men’s basketball team is finally going back to the Olympics. 

After winning bronze at the 2023 FIBA World Cup last summer, Team Canada secured its spot in the 2024 Paris Games, marking the team’s 10th Olympic appearance and first since 2000. It was there at the Sydney Games that captain Steve Nash led the Canadians to a 5-2 record that included upset victories over hosts Australia, Spain and Yugoslavia. Unfortunately, Canada lost to France in the crossover quarterfinal matchup and finished seventh in the tournament, a disappointing result given the team’s impressive start and overall record. 

It proved that Olympic competition is cutthroat and that what happens in the group stage isn’t necessarily indicative of what might happen in the elimination rounds — a lesson that the impressive group of athletes representing Canada in 2024 can learn from as the team attempts to win its first Olympic basketball medal since 1936.

At the 2024 Paris Games, No. 7 ranked Canada will be in Group A with No. 5 ranked Australia and the winners of the last-chance Olympic Qualifying Tournaments being held in Spain and Greece from July 2-7. Once Canada’s final two opponents have been decided, the Olympics will begin with a Group Stage round-robin where each team will face off against each other before the top two teams in each Group (as well as the two best third-place teams) move onto the quarterfinals.

Here is a breakdown of Canada’s potential opponents in Group A of the 2023 Olympic Games: 

AUSTRALIA

FIBA World Ranking: 5

Tokyo 2020 result: Bronze medal (lost to USA in the semifinal, beat Slovenia for bronze. It was Australia’s first and only Olympic medal)

The Road to Paris 2024: Australia automatically qualified for the Olympics after finishing 10th at the 2023 FIBA World Cup, finishing ahead of 22nd place New Zealand for the lone Oceania spot at the Games. 

The Head Coach: Brian Goorjian

The Starting 5: Josh Giddey, Patty Mills, Josh Green, Nick Kay, Duop Reith 

The X Factor: Josh Giddey ran hot and cold at last summer’s World Cup, averaging 19.6 points and six assists while struggling from beyond the arc, knocking down just 16.7 per cent of his threes. The team asked Giddey to create a lot of its offense and he wasn’t up to the task against better teams like Germany and Slovenia. 

Unlike in the NBA, where Giddey plays alongside Gilgeous-Alexander, the Australians give him the ball and allow Giddey to run the show and set up his teammates. Unfortunately, not enough of them are elite scorers and he is often left picking up the pieces. 

The Scouting Report: Australia is one of the deepest teams in the tournament, with the potential to trot out a starting five full of NBA players in addition to the talent they develop in their domestic league, the NBL. Between Giddey, Mills, Green, Dyson Daniels, Dante Exum, Mathese Thybulle, Joe Ingles and maybe even (but probably not) Ben Simmons, the Boomers have a lot of talent but lack elite scorers and depth at the big man position.

However, longtime Boomer Aron Baynes — who was out of the 2023 World Cup with a mysterious injury — is thriving with the Brisbane Bullets in the NBL and could be back with the national team in time for the Olympics.

GREECE OQT

The Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Piraeus, Greece will see No. 11 ranked Slovenia, No. 21 ranked New Zealand and No. 30 ranked Croatia face off in Group A versus No. 40 ranked Egypt, No. 14 ranked Greece, and No. 19 ranked Dominican Republic in Group B. After each group plays each other in a round-robin, the two best teams in each group will advance to the semifinals for the knockout stages. Only the winner will advance to the Olympics. 

Slovenia is the team to beat in this tournament, with NBA MVP candidate Luka Doncic always there to represent his country in international competitions. However, Doncic and Co will have their work cut out for them against a Greek team that has been playing together for years - and could include two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo should he choose to suit up in his home country this summer. Plus, the Dominican Republic could have Karl-Anthony Towns for the second consecutive summer after he had an impressive showing at the 2023 World Cup. 

If Slovenia does advance like they will be favoured to, the team will seek revenge against a Canadian team that knocked them out of the 2023 World Cup, when both Doncic and his primary defender, Dillon Brooks, were ejected in the quarterfinal matchup. Despite Canada being the better team that night, the Slovenians have been one of the top teams in the world since Doncic erupted onto the scene, winning gold at the 2017 EuroBasket and finishing fourth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after losing a nailbiter to France in the semifinal. 

With Doncic and Antetokounmpo both playing the best basketball of their careers in the NBA this season, Brooks and Canada will have their work cut out for them no matter which team advances from the qualifier in Greece. 

SPAIN OQT

Valencia, Spain is where the other last-chance OQT will be held, with the host Spaniards the favourites to advance past No. 28 ranked Lebanon and No. 34 ranked Angola in Group A and face off against one of No. 20 Finland, No. 15 Poland or No. 57 Bahamas in Group B. 

While the No. 2 ranked Spain is the favourite to win, don’t discount Lauri Markkanen’s Finland or Buddy Hield, Eric Gordon, and Deandre Ayton’s Bahamas in a win-or-go-home style tournament. Any of those teams could conceivably advance to the Olympics and give Canada a run for their money in the group stage.

Still, it’s the host nation’s group to lose. And similar to Slovenia, Spain will be looking for revenge against a Canadian team that overcame two double-digit deficits to knock them out of the 2023 World Cup. There is also the coaching factor, with Canada’s head coach Jordi Fernandez having worked on Spain’s bench with head coach Sergio Scariolo, an assistant coach on the Toronto Raptors during the championship season. 

Despite seeing Ricky Rubio and the Gasol brothers age out of the program, Spain is still among the gold standards in men’s basketball having won gold at the 2019 FIBA World Cup and the 2022 EuroBasket, and bronze at the 2016 Olympics before placing sixth in Tokyo 2020. With a team of up-and-comers including Santi Aldama, Usman Garuba, Juan Nunez and the Hernangomez brothers, Spain is not a team to be reckoned with. 

Overall, however, Canada should feel fortunate that they ended up in a group that doesn't include either Serbia or Team USA — two of the medal favourites at the Olympics. While there was never a chance that Canada and the USA would end up in the same group, seeing Serbia land in Group C alongside Team USA was a lucky break for the Canadians, who will want to avoid both teams in the quarterfinal crossover if they want to avoid repeating what happened in 2000.