Basketball autographed by 19 Canadian NBA players up for grabs

There's at least one piece of basketball memorabilia that Bennedict Mathurin wishes he was a part of.

A basketball with the signatures of 19 Canadian players currently in the NBA is up for grabs in an online contest through the NBA Represent website. All of the signatures were gathered in the hallways of Toronto's Scotiabank Arena as teams came through the venue during the course of the season to play the Raptors. Mathurin, the Pacers swingman from Montreal, didn't get to sign the ball because he didn't travel for Indiana's first game in Toronto on Feb. 14 due to illness, and the contest had already begun on April 9 when the Pacers returned to Scotiabank Arena.

“Man, I want my signature to be on awesome stuff like that,” Mathurin said jokingly. “But I don't want my signature all small and stuff. It should be big.”

Raptors players RJ Barrett of Mississauga, Ont., Kelly Olynyk of Kamloops, B.C., and Montreal's Chris Boucher provided three of the autographs on the memento.

Hamilton's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, an NBA MVP candidate with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Jamal Murray of Kitchener, Ont., who led the Denver Nuggets to the championship last season, have also signed.

The contest ends on May 12. Mathurin said it's been a great year for Canadian basketball.

“You have a lot more guys going into the league this year, next year,” Mathurin said. “We have (collegiate star) Zach Edey, who had a monster March Madness, we're going to have those guys represent the country in a big way.”

The ball is part of the NBA's “Represent” campaign, a season-long initiative designed to promote Canadian talent.

Contest prizes have included courtside tickets and signed jerseys.