Nuggets guard Jamal Murray was not included on a list of 23 Canadian players revealed Monday to be competing for spots on the national team ahead of the 2027 FIBA World Cup and 2028 Olympics.
Canada Basketball general manager Rowan Barrett told reporters the program wanted players who were willing to make a three-year commitment, starting this summer with World Cup qualifying.
“Just to be really honest with you, if guys don’t commit this summer, they’re not in (for the World Cup and Olympics),” Barrett said, according to .
Murray, 29, is one of Canada’s biggest stars. Averaging 25.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists for Denver this season, he was one of two Canadians to make an All-NBA team, along with MVP winner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The 23-man pool featured several notable NBA players, including Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Hawks), Dillon Brooks (Suns), Lu Dort (Thunder), Andrew Nembhard (Pacers), RJ Barrett (Raptors), Bennedict Mathurin (Clippers) and Kyshawn George (Wizards). Grizzlies center Zach Edey is reportedly committed to playing for the team once he’s healthy, but he wasn’t on the list because he’s missing training camp this summer with an injury.
Heat wing Andrew Wiggins and Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe were among the other notable absences.
“Jamal Murray is not committed to playing in the program going forward,” Rowan Barrett said. “He’s got tremendous desire to play for the country, but sometimes there are things going on with the athletes that prevent them from doing so.”
Murray did play alongside Gilgeous-Alexander and his other countrymen in 2024, when Canada went to the Paris Olympics with gold medal ambitions. But the team fell short of the podium, losing to Victor Wembanyama and France in the quarterfinals. Murray struggled throughout the tournament while trying to play through multiple lingering injuries from the NBA playoffs. only six points on 29% shooting.
Later that summer, he signed a four-year, $209 million contract extension with the Nuggets. It went into effect this past season, after a 2025 summer without international competition. Murray often cited his ample offseason recovery time as one of the reasons for his career year.
The FIBA World Cup will be played in Qatar from Aug. 27 to Sept. 12, 2027. for the 12-team Olympic field out of that tournament, in addition to Team USA (which automatically qualifies as the host country). Los Angeles will host the Olympics from July 14-30, 2028.
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic will be with the Serbian national team later this summer during a pair of World Cup qualifying windows, head coach Dusan Alimpijevic said recently. It will be his third consecutive summer suiting up for Serbia, after the Olympics in 2024 and the EuroBasket tournament in 2025. The last time Jokic took a summer off from international competition was in 2023, when he missed the World Cup to recover from Denver’s championship run.
