When Steve Nash led underdog Team Canada to the quarterfinals of the 2000 Olympics, many assumed the golden age of Canadian basketball was at hand. Instead, it took 24 years for the Canadian men to get back to international basketball's biggest stage, with a wave of immigration pushing the sport into every corner of the country and a new generation of superstars blossoming into household names. How did we get here? And why did it take so long?
In The Golden Generation, sports journalist Oren Weisfeld uncovers the growth of Canadian basketball through the lens of Team Canada and its most influential figures, alternating between chronicling key moments in the rise of the Canadian men's national team and profiling key figures in the grassroots basketball landscape. Through over 100 original interviews with athletes, coaches, and behind-the-scenes power brokers, The Golden Generation explores the role racism played in the national team's early struggles, how pioneers like Cory Joseph and Tristan Thompson paved a new path for high schoolers to follow before Jamal Murray recreated it, the enigma that is Andrew Wiggins, and the backstories of the core group of players that brought Canada back to the Olympics, including superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Canadian basketball has come a long way over the past two decades, with a record 24 current NBA players, a sophisticated grassroots infrastructure, and a top-ranked national team. But many trailblazers had to take their hits to lay the foundation for the current generation to thrive. The Golden Generation puts all the pieces and players together to explain how Canada became a basketball country with a bright future ahead.
The Golden Generation documents the growth of Canadian men's basketball through the lens of Team Canada and its most influential figures, detailing the history of the sport and explaining why this is just the tip of the iceberg for Canadian hoops.
Oren Weisfeld is a writer based in Toronto. He covers Canadian basketball and the intersection of sports and politics for publications including The Guardian, Toronto Star, VICE, SLAM, Complex, Sportsnet, and Yahoo!. This is his debut book.
Sales and Market Bullets
• TEAM CANADA FEATURED IN BASKETBALL NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY COMING IN 2025: From the production team behind The Last Dance comes a documentary series focusing on several men's basketball teams on the road to Paris 2024, including Team Canada. The series will provide an in-depth look at the journey of teams striving to qualify and compete, highlighting the emotional and physical challenges athletes face. For Canada, this includes the historic qualification for the Olympics.
• THE ORIGIN STORY OF NBA SUPERSTARS: Canada's first Olympic men's basketball team since 2000 featured 10 active NBA players, setting a record for any country outside the U.S. Featuring behind-the-scenes stories and detailed profiles of NBA superstars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder), Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets), Dillon Brooks (Houston Rockets), RJ Barrett (Toronto Raptors), Kelly Olynyk (Raptors), Chris Boucher (Raptors), Zach Edey (Memphis Grizzlies), Luguentz Dort (OKC Thunder), Trey Lyles (Sacramento Kings), Andrew Nembhard (Indiana Pacers), Dwight Powell (Dallas Mavericks), and others.
• A PASSIONATE FAN BASE: Crowding the Toronto streets after the Raptors won the NBA finals in 2019, basketball fans are a diverse and enthusiastic group that once again rallied zealously behind the Canadian basketball team for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. @TeamCanada has 750K followers on X and @NBACanada has 110K followers on X.
• PROVEN READERSHIP: We the North (Doug Smith, 2020) and Rapture (Nick Nurse, 2020) have proven that there is a rabid fan base out there excited about Canadian basketball and looking for content.
