The Golden Generation

Discover the untold story of Canadian men’s basketball, from Steve Nash’s breakthrough at the 2000 Olympics to two decades of struggle, controversy, and missed opportunity. The Golden Generation follows the Canadian basketball journey from obscurity to resurgence as a new generation of NBA stars, like Andrew Wiggins and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, propel Canada back to international glory.

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.