Canadian hoops trio dominate draft talk
NEW YORK — Andrew Wiggins and Nik Stauskas once played together on an under-17 team at a tournament in Las Vegas.
Stauskas was 15 years old at the time. Wiggins was only 13. On one particularly eye-popping play, Stauskas fed Wiggins with a beautiful pass that the young phenom finished off with a huge dunk.
Six years later, the two Canadians were seated some 20 feet from each other in a ballroom at a posh Manhattan hotel, speaking with the media on the eve of the NBA draft.
They talked about that tournament and marvelled at where they are now. They talked about dreaming big, and being on the cusp of realizing those dreams.
Wiggins is poised to become the second Canadian selected No. 1 overall, while Stauskas and fellow Canadian Tyler Ennis are also expected to go in the first round.
“We all had hoop dreams, we all wanted to play in the NBA,” Wiggins said of the Canadian kids he grew up playing alongside.
“It’s huge, especially having three people that high in the draft. I don’t think that’s ever been done before in Canada, maybe we’ve had one or two. But now we have three guys.”
Wiggins, Stauskas and Ennis are three of the 20 players invited both to New York for the pre-draft festivities and to the Barclays Center for Thursday night’s draft.
Wiggins, 19, from Vaughan, Ont., is the star, but Canadian pride was the theme of Wednesday’s media session. One American reporter asked the trio if they had ever played hockey. (No for all three.)
“It’s cool,” said Stauskas. “I’ve watched these kids grow up for the last 10 years, the same way they’ve watched me grow up. To see us all together now and all the success (we had) at the college level, and the NBA level, it’s crazy to see.
“I really hope that the eight, nine, 10-year-old kids who are starting to play basketball in Canada, I hope they look up to us, and I hope we inspire someone ... I’m really proud of these guys. I love being Canadian and I hope people recognize that.”
The Cleveland Cavaliers are expected to take either Wiggins, who starred at Kansas in his one season there, or Duke forward Jabari Parker with their No. 1 pick. Rumblings around the league Wednesday had the Cavs torn about which talented player to take.
Wiggins wasn’t afraid to admit he has his sights set on the top spot.
“That’s more of the competitive side, for me, just wanting to be above everybody else, not wanting anyone to go ahead of me,” said Wiggins. “I still want to go one.”
Wiggins, a genetically gifted sixfoot-eight guard — he’s the son of an NBA player and Olympic sprinter — would be the second consecutive Canadian to go No. 1 should the Cavs take him Thursday. The Cavs selected fellow Canadian Anthony Bennett first overall last season.
Wiggins, the busiest player in the room Wednesday surrounded by several dozen journalists, leads a crop of Canadians that could see as many as five to eight selected.
“It’s crazy, just because this is the NBA. And when you think it of that way, it’s crazy to see how far we’ve all come,” said Stauskas, a Mississauga, Ont., native.
“I remember playing AAU with Andrew,” he added of the Grassroots Canada team that played in that Vegas tournament. “First time I ever saw him, he did a 360 behindthe-back dunk, and I’m like, ‘I think this kid is going to the NBA.’ To see it finally happen, and to see all these kids here, it’s awesome.”