Shaedon Sharpe to Attend Training Camp With Canadian National Team
Sharpe will not be in contention for an Olympic roster spot but will participate in camp with the national team.
Canada Basketball released the training camp roster for its senior men’s national team on Wednesday and while Shaedon Sharpe will not be one of the 20 players in competition for a spot on the Olympic roster, he will participate in camp.
Sharpe will go to training camp with a loaded Canadian team coming off a third-place finish at last summer’s FIBA World Cup. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray, Andrew Wiggins, Dillon Brooks, Andrew Nembhard, R.J. Barrett, Kelly Olynyk and projected first-round pick Zach Edey will all be in camp. Many of them have seniority over Sharpe when it comes to their history with the national team, which is why Sharpe will essentially serve to fill out the practice roster. It could, however, open the door for him to be in consideration for the national team in the next cycle for the 2027 FIBA World Cup in Qatar and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Even though Sharpe will not be in contention for the Olympic team this year, the camp invite is a hugely positive development for him and for the Trail Blazers.
Sharpe was limited to just 32 games in his second season, and underwent surgery in early February to address a lingering core muscle injury. Before then, he’d shown signs of breaking out, including a stretch of five games in a row with at least 20 points in late November and early December. After his initial six-week recovery timetable, the Blazers hoped he would be cleared to play for the final handful of games at the end of the season, but he didn’t quite get there. The fact that Sharpe is accepting this camp invite, and that the Blazers are on board with him doing it, is a sign that he’s now completely recovered from the injury.
Canada Basketball general manager Rowan Barrett told reporters in Toronto at a Wednesday press conference that Sharpe and Indiana Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin, who is out with an injury, are “coming in to learn and grow.”
“We believe they can do some great things with Canada down the line,” Barrett said. “They're chomping at the bit"
Going through training camp with the national team, even though he won’t be on the final Olympic roster, is also a great opportunity for Sharpe to get experience in a high-level competitive environment he hasn’t seen much of in his career. He sat out his freshman season at Kentucky, and then the Blazers missed the playoffs in his rookie season and last year was cut short by injuries. Spending a couple of weeks around a Canadian team that made a deep run in the FIBA tournament last summer will be good for the development of one of the young players the rebuilding Trail Blazers have a lot of their future invested in.
Sharpe isn’t the only Blazers player participating in Olympic-related activities this summer. Matisse Thybulle and Duop Reath are both expected to play for Australia, and Deandre Ayton will be a part of the Bahamas team playing in the qualifying tournament in early July hoping to earn one of the final spots in the Olympic field. Malcolm Brogdon could also play for Poland in the qualifiers—he has eligibility through his wife’s father, who is Polish. Rayan Rupert’s sister, Iliana, is taking this WNBA season off to prepare to play for the French women’s national team.
Team Canada’s training camp will run from June 28 to July 7 in Toronto and then they will play Team USA in an exhibition game in Las Vegas on July 10 at T-Mobile Arena, after both national teams complete their first week of training camp. The opening ceremony for the Olympics in Paris will take place on July 26.