The 20 Best Canadian Players in the NBA, Ranked

Image via Complex Original/Corbin Portillo

Darling only played a total of 26 minutes over seven games with the Charlotte Hornets this season. The 6-foot-6 guard did turn in a solid season for the Agua Caliente Clippers in the G League, though, averaging 17.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.4 assists while shooting 37 percent from deep over 31 games.

After becoming the first Nova Scotian to play in the NBA the previous season, the nearly 24-year-old faces an uphill task in trying to crack a Hornets roster that already boasts LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier, Cody Martin, and even Gordon Hayward who’s a small forward but sees time at the guard spot occasionally. —Vivek Jacob

Now into his third season, Brazdeikis got the most floor burn he’s ever had with 43 games for Orlando and just over 12 minutes a night. He had a particularly bright finish to the season when the Magic were playing for ping pong balls, averaging 30 minutes over his final five games and averaging 14.6 points as well as 4.4 rebounds while knocking down a couple triples, too.

You never quite know how things can shake out in Orlando in terms of opportunity as they’ve been both mismanaged and injury-plagued, but perhaps he can continue to do enough to maintain some league-wide interest to prise him away. —Vivek Jacob

Dalano Banton is promising on two incredibly springy legs. After an explosive, occasionally discombobulated debut at Summer League, Banton got a standing ovation in his first game as a Toronto Raptor, something that reverberated with an entirely new feeling of hometown pride the franchise had yet to feel. Banton is long, strong, with stamina to spare, and despite learning how to harness all that in real-time during his debut season still played meaningful minutes for the Raptors, showing up when the team needed a disruptor and energy jolt.

Banton is a longterm development prospect for the team, his frequent shuttling between the 905’s home in Mississauga and Scotiabank Arena prove the deep potential the Raptors see in him, and his presence in the NBA at large gives rise to inroads for homegrown talent that have helped make basketball become the new cultural cornerstone in Canada it is. —Katie Heindl

This is a historic list, and as such this blurb will mostly refer to the accomplishments of seasons past for Thompson, who played for three different NBA franchises this season and still found time to moonlight mostly as a tabloid star. Once the highest-drafted Canadian in NBA history, Thompson was a crucial part of the Championship Cavs team that came back from a 3-1 deficit and one of the strongest offensive rebounders in the league before the promise of positionless play began to eclipse more traditional roles.

His tour around the league this past year may have been his last, but 11 seasons, the majority of those in Cleveland picking up consecutive games played records, shows the kind of solid role-playing and longevity all athletes hope to have. —Katie Heindl

This Toronto native is possibly the most intriguing name in the lower half of this list. Expect Primo to rise up these charts in the years to come as the 19-year-old guard is barely scratching the surface and has the opportunity to learn from one of the greatest coaches of all-time in Gregg Popovich.

“If I could really do what I wanted to do and I didn’t care about anything else in the world, I’d throw him in the frying pan like we did with Tony Parker,” Popovich told reporters on the Spurs’ lone trip to Toronto. “Joshua has an uncanny maturity about him, a kind of steady demeanour. He is not awed by the NBA or anything like that, he makes good decisions, he definitely knows how to play. It’s just a matter of getting stronger and aware that these are men and they are coming after your head, so to speak.”—Vivek Jacob

A prototypical stretch big who doesn’t offer much resistance defensively, Lyles was a decent bench contributor for the Detroit Pistons before being traded to the Sacramento Kings and continuing in similar fashion.

He also started 23 games, averaging 13 points and 6.5 rebounds while shooting 35.6 percent from three-point range and 87.2 percent at the free-throw line in those opportunities. He’ll be in a contract year next season and so further opportunity could see those numbers pop even more. —Vivek Jacob

Since arriving in Toronto, Raptors big man Khem Birch has suffered enough bouts of bad luck that even he’s noticed it. After a late-season loss against the Suns, Birch commented on the “bad vibes” around him, and the proof was tangible—a broken nose, getting a tooth knocked out, being out with Covid to start the season, and a nagging knee injury he would have surgery for a month after the Raptors ended their playoff contention. Going from a less competitive team in Orlando to the effortful juggernaut of Toronto was an adjustment the 29-year-old Birch took in stride amidst recurrent instability, putting the team first as a steadying veteran presence who helped its young breakout talent, like Precious Achiuwa, get their feet under them even as he felt his own wobble. —Katie Heindl

Cory Joseph is a testament to longevity in the NBA as much as he is a road map for the Canadian players who’ll come after him. While out for stretches this season in Detroit, he has an uptick in his overall shooting, contributing key points in most of the Pistons' wins and providing a veteran presence for a young, and still green, group that’s keen to turn into contenders. Joseph is a Canadian institution in the NBA, and that’s kind of the whole point—explosivity doesn’t always last, but adaptation does. —Katie Heindl

This was undoubtedly a tough year for Alexander-Walker. There was certainly some noise over what he could bring to the table as a scorer off the bench for the Pelicans, especially with more opportunities available due to the absence of Zion Williamson. For 50 games in New Orleans, though, Alexander-Walker managed 12.8 points but only shot 31.1 percent from deep and 37.5 percent overall.

He was dealt to the Utah Jazz in a three-team deal and barely figured into their plans. 2022-23 needs to be a big one for NAW. —Vivek Jacob

Though Powell’s overall numbers may seem demure compared to those of his teammates (Luka Doncic is going to dim the wattage on anyone), Dallas couldn’t have made it to the Western Conference Finals without him. He’s a screening savant who’s developed a unique chemistry with Doncic that other Mavs bigs couldn’t, making the pick and roll plays favoured by Dallas’s star look easy. And the eye-test matches the numbers, Powell was a +24 in the Mavs close out semi-finals games against the Suns, and is generally a huge plus-presence on the floor when his team wins by double digits.

After a touchy couple of seasons recovering from a ruptured Achilles, his field goal percentage has climbed to a solid 67 percent as a result of playing a straight 82 games, the most he has in his career thus far. —Katie Heindl

Though he hails from Vancouver, after three seasons in Memphis, Brandon Clarke feels like the quintessential Grizzlies-style player. He’s long, strong, vibrant, and flourishes in the spotlight, not dwarfed but enhanced by his high-flying teammates of Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. In his third season, Clarke’s numbers stayed reliably high—averaging 10.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, shooting 64 percent from the field—showing that rather than growing by leaps and bounds the versatile forward intends to stay elevated.

His budding playmaking abilities (59 assists to just 29 turnovers) and tidy shooting (he’s one of the most efficient reserve scorers in the NBA) have given the Grizzlies already deep bench a boon, and his stellar performance in this year’s postseason helped solidify the reputation of the basketball talent coming out of Canadian being something to get excited about. —Katie Heindl

Boucher may not be the flashiest version of the Raptors ‘Vision 6’9”’ ethos, but in four seasons with the franchise has turned into its most fundamental devotee. Boucher’s advantage on the floor has always been in his length and the disruptive way he deploys it, but in his most recent season in Toronto the rangy stretch forward worked hard at honing that asset. His shot selection improved, he crashed the glass at both ends but recorded career-high offensive rebounds, started meditating to help him focus, began intently studying film for two hours a day, and by putting it all together, became Toronto’s most reliable rotational player. —Katie Heindl

Dort isn’t just the only Canadian to play like a Mack truck on skates, but the only NBA player with that distinction, too. Before a shoulder injury sidelined him in February, Dort had been on track to have his best season yet, shooting over 40 percent from the field and averaging 17 points and 4 rebounds per game. Dort has been quietly impactful alongside OKC star and fellow Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander since the Thunder drafted him in 2019. His name has been linked to offseason trades with Portland, Philadelphia, and Denver for good reason—he’s one of the craftiest perimeter defenders in the league and with his intuitive, easy confidence, he’s a quiet ballast for the flashier players around him. —Katie Heindl 

Entering his fifth season with the Grizzlies, Dillon Brooks was at that crucial point in his pro career where he needed to carve out a more meaningful niche for himself within a team of explosive talent. Injuries hampered Memphis and Brooks was no exception with an ankle sprain that sidelined him for long stretches of the season. Still, when he was in he was full-bore, doubling down on intensity to become an enterprising offensive force that took on everything for his teammates.  —Katie Heindl

We know what Jamal Murray can do at the peak of his powers. We’re not going to forget the Kitchener Shuffle and the lights-out display he put on in the bubble that quickly; we just can’t wait for him to get back out there and do it again.

Murray has been putting in the work to get back to his best physically since tearing his left ACL last April, and when the 2022-23 season begins it will be around 18 months since we last saw him at the highest level. It was great to see him commit to Team Canada for the next three years so hopefully we’re about to get all we can handle in terms of Jamal content whether it be in a Nuggets jersey or the red and white. —Vivek Jacob

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had himself a very good season until the OKC Thunder went ahead and did what they do and limited him to 56 games after playing 35 games last season. At least with SGA, he makes the most of it by getting off some incredible fits while sitting on the sidelines, but the sooner the Thunder’s tank mission is over, the better.

If there’s one area of Gilgeous-Alexander’s game that he’ll want to get back on track for next season, it’s his three-point shooting. After shooting over 36 percent through his first three seasons including 41.8 percent in 2020-21, he dropped all the way to 30 percent this past season. It’s a gravy shot for him with the way he can slither into the paint, but making that shot consistently can also be the difference between him being a very, very good player and a top-tier, A1 superstar in the league. —Vivek Jacob

With the Warriors, Andrew Wiggins went from being a capable, ready stand-in for Klay Thompson and Steph Curry last season, to a point-of-attack threat that defended more shots (1017, per NBA.com) than any other forward and put up a career-high three-point percentage (39 percent) this season. Oh, and an NBA Champion. The in-game and overall career differences for Wiggins in Golden State have been night-and-day compared to his time in Minnesota, and stability plays a huge part. He’s aggressive, but content to find the best fit for himself within the overarching scheme of the Warriors offence, which means ceding touches to Steph Curry while recognizing when the floor is his (e.g. 26 points in a crucial Game 5 against the Celtics). Questions about his potential for NBA stardom and longevity have been dogging Wiggins for years now, but there’s nothing like a gigantic ring to put those concerns to bed. —Katie Heindl