Few nations have dominated a single sport on the world stage the way the United States has on the international basketball circuit.
Through 19 Olympic tournaments featuring men’s basketball, Team USA has cruised to a golden finish on 15 occasions. They’ve won the past three straight tourneys, and haven’t missed out on a medal since 1980. Unsurprisingly, they reside atop the FIBA World Rankings. Comfortably.
Might the kings fall over the next decade, though? Canadian up-and-comer R.J. Barrett believes so — and he says the red and white could be the culprits of this dethroning.
“I’ve beaten the USA twice in my lifetime, so they’re beatable,” Barrett told Dime Magazine’s Bill Difilippo in a piece published Friday.
One of those victories stands as one of Barrett’s marquee career moments, in fact. The 18-year-old helped take down Team USA with a monster 38-point performance in the semifinals of the 2017 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup, guiding Canada to a gold medal soon after.
Barrett says the quality of talent set to suit up for Canada in the coming years gives them a shot at continuing that success at the next level.
“I feel with all the great players we have, a whole bunch of NBA players now, they have experience. So it’s really going to be a fair game, and I think we can take them,” he said. “Jamal Murray, Andrew Wiggins, Cory Joseph, Tristan Thompson, Kelly Olynyk, Dillon Brooks, you know Dwight Powell. A whole bunch of young guys.
“And really, we don’t have that underdog mentality here. They will be paving the way for the present day younger generation.”
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Set to suit up for Duke University next season, the highly-touted Barrett is on the rise as one of the key figures who could lead Canada into a more promising era. The Mississauga, Ont., native is destined for greatness at the professional level, without a doubt. But he’s got an eye on international glory as well — a goal once seemingly unattainable in these parts.
“To go to the Olympics and get a gold medal,” Barrett said when asked what he wants to accomplish in the next 10–15 years. “We’re going to have a great pool of talent, the older veterans are going to start getting into their prime soon, along with the younger guys that are going to have a couple years of experience, myself and Andrew Nembhard. I think if we all pull together we’d have a really good team and make some noise.”
It’s more than just the fact that his team is making progress, though.
As of now, Team USA reigns supreme. Their competition is minimal. Barrett wants to be among the group that finally flips that script.
“Everyone wants to beat Goliath,” he said. “Definitely for them, I feel like they’re on notice, so let’s do it. We beat them, so they’re worried about us doing it again.”
