HAMILTON – There is no bigger basketball story in Hamilton than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Oklahoma City Thunder star is an NBA champion and sitting on consecutive MVP awards but still reps the working-class southern Ontario city he moved to as a middle schooler.
He lives in the area in the off-season and still trains with a crew from his high school team.
So Gilgeous-Alexander was the obvious headliner when he suited up for a pair of FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifying games at TD Coliseum, first on Friday (110-84 win over Puerto Rico) and again Monday night as the Canadian men took care of business against Jamaica with a 116-78 victory.
The pair of wins improved the Canadians to 6-0 in the first round of qualifying as they won their group and put themselves in the driver’s seat as they vie to become one of seven countries from the Americas to advance to the World Cup in Qatar next summer. Once there, they will eye improving on their historic bronze medal from 2023. They plan to continue that trajectory when they open the second round of qualifying with a game in Quebec City on August 31st.
Gilgeous-Alexander got the biggest cheer from a raucous crowd of 11,000 both nights during pre-game introductions. He then nearly brought the house down Monday night with a spectacular sequence late in the first quarter when he converted a steal into an emphatic dunk over an overmatched Jamaican defender and then dripped in a three moments later. Another three just before the horn gave Canada a 32-15 lead to start the second quarter.
“It's amazing and special. I don't take those opportunities and moments for granted to be able to play in front of people that watched me grow up, essentially,” Gilgeous-Alexander said on Friday, before chipping in 16 points, five assists and four steals in 20 minutes of floor time.
Canada was led by Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks, who scored 20 points on 12 shots in 18 minutes. He had three of Canada’s 15 steals as it pressured a still developing Jamaican program at every turn.
“Getting turnovers and being in transition is one of the highest percentage possessions you can get,” said Brooks. “It’s not that we stress (getting steals), it’s just being up there pressuring full court, regardless of who you are and trying to make plays on the defensive end, I think that’s what’s stressed.”
Gilgeous-Alexander is far from Canada’s only elite NBA talent. There’s an argument that if Canada has a challenge as they build towards the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, it is that they have too much NBA talent, or at least too much concentrated at the guard and wing positions. The Canadians' guard depth might be as good as any country in the world.
Indiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard was the breakout star of the two-game qualifying window, starting at point guard while Gilgeous-Alexander takes reps off the ball. The Pacers guard scored 40 points across the two games on 17-of-23 shooting while adding eight assists. Nembhard starting at point guard is an arrangement that could become a long-term thing.
“He's grabbed this opportunity and run with it,” said newly hired senior team head coach Gord Herbert. “And he has a great chance to be our starting point guard going forward.”
Atlanta Hawks guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Gilgeous-Alexander’s cousin, will be a fixture as an elite two-way wing. Toronto Raptors wing RJ Barrett didn’t play in either of the two games in Hamilton, but was effective as a small forward for Canada at the World Cup and the Olympics in 2024, while Brooks will likely see extended minutes toggling between both forward positions.
But if there is a gap in the Canadian lineup, it’s at centre. While Canada finished a respectable fifth at the Olympics, its tournament finished short of the medal round in part because it couldn’t handle France on the offensive glass in the quarterfinal loss.
The hope is Memphis Grizzlies giant Zach Edey will be a solution to that challenge in 2027 and 2028. The vision of the seven-foot-four, 300-pound big man controlling the paint while various combinations of Canada’s wings and guards spread the floor on the perimeter is fun to contemplate.
But Edey isn’t available this summer as he recovers from ankle surgery, and even when healthy, it’s unlikely he plays in all situations or more than 20 or so minutes per game.
Which means Canada needs to find at least one more quality big, and perhaps two, given Dwight Powell, Kelly Olynyk and Khem Birch — veterans from the 2024 Olympic team — will be 37, 37 and 35, respectively, when the Los Angeles Olympics roll around in 2028.
In that context, one of the most interesting players to watch could be Mfiondu Kabengele, the wide-bodied 6-foot-10 centre who will play in the Euro League for Dubai next season.
He’s not one to fill the box score, as the 2019 first-round pick by the Brooklyn Nets made his national team debut in Hamilton and accumulated just eight points and nine rebounds while starting both games. But the Canadians don’t need scoring from their bigs. They need bigs willing and able to do the things that make life easier for the perimeter talent that will do the bulk of the scoring for them and the global level.
Sign Kabengele up for that:
“I feel my presence inside is valuable,” he said. “And I enjoy the contact. It is a physical game.”
In both games, the 28-year-old showed his abilities as a solid screen setter with good hands on the catch, quick feet on the roll and a nice feel to make kick out passes to the perimeter.
“It makes it a little easier playing with guys like me, Shai, Nickeil, Andrew,” said Brooks. “I feel like (the bigs) played well, they held their own and those guys are professionals too, they put on their hard hats and they’re ready to play.”
In both games, Kabengele played in lineups where he was the only big man in lineups with four guards or guards and smaller wings, and he enjoyed it.
“There’s a lot of room out there,” he said. “These guys are so mobile and they can create a lot of space. So when I’m setting these screens and I’m rolling, there are big gaps and the guys are making great passes.”
“The FIBA game is a little bit different than the NBA game, less spread out, so you got to take advantage of when guys are in the paint and have good position,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “Then we have guys that are really good around the rim, so it's only right that we use them to their advantage. It also opens the floor for the rest of the guys when other teams have to worry about us inside, and also like the more you're around the basket, the more fouls you draw … it has a domino effect on multiple things, and we try to try to get to that.”
The Canadian men’s national team will always go roughly as far as Gilgeous-Alexander and the collection of elite perimeter players it can roll out will take it. And as the Canadians build toward the World Cup and the Olympics, there are jobs available for bigs willing to help them finish what the team’s loaded backout will always be starting.
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