Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins missed the start of the Canadian national men’s basketball team training camp Friday. Wiggins, who was born and raised in the Toronto area, was named to the Team Canada training camp roster earlier in June, but will miss the Olympics due to medical reasons, according to The Athletic.
However, the reasons behind Wiggins’ absence do not seem as settled for the Canadian team. During media availability Friday, Canadian general manager Rowan Barrett said the Warriors told him a few days before camp that Wiggins would not be available.
A Golden State spokesperson told The Athletic that it was a mutual decision between Wiggins and the team based on medical reasons. But Barrett implied Golden State did not clarify a reason when informing him of Wiggins’s unavailability and believes the Warriors were blocking Wiggins from joining.
“Well, for us, Andrew was fine,” Barrett said, per The Athletic. “We were talking to him consistently. Hes been training for weeks and weeks getting ready for this. And then I got a call from Golden State a day or two before camp saying that theyre holding him out. So, from what I see, this is not an Andrew decision. This is from the team.”
Wiggins played most of the 2024 NBA season without issue, racking up 71 games and 59 starts, but suffered an ankle injury late in the season that may have lingered. The 29-year-old forward had a slow start to the season, but ended with averages of 13.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.
After stints with Canada’s U17 and U18 teams, Wiggins has played for the Canadian senior team for several years, playing 20 games with the team. Wiggins’ last game with Team Canada was in 2021, in a tournament loss that meant the team failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
However, his inclusion on Canada’s roster came with some dispute. In 2022, Canada asked players to make a three-year commitment to summer training camp to be considered for the Olympics, but Wiggins was unable to make the commitment as the Warriors were in the middle of a run that would eventually lead to another NBA championship. Wiggins was also a year away from unrestricted free agency and went on to sign a four-year, $109 million extension with Golden State. Canada later relaxed the commitment restrictions.
With or without Wiggins, this will be Canada’s first time at the Olympics since 2000 after a strong campaign to return.