Canada’s Zach Edey pulls out of consideration for Olympic team

01/07/2024

Team Canada’s Olympic basketball team suddenly just got much smaller.

Promising rookie big man Zach Edey pulled himself out of consideration to represent the team at the Paris Olympics this summer, Canada Basketball announced Sunday.

Edey, 22, took part in the team’s training camp and has long been a staple of Canada Basketball, playing for them at the FIBA World Cup last summer. However, after being drafted ninth overall by the Memphis Grizzlies earlier this week, he’s opting to prepare for his NBA career instead.

“Canada Basketball was recently notified by Zach of his intention to remove himself from consideration to represent Canada at this summer’s Olympic Games,” general manager Rowan Barrett said in a press release Sunday. “While we were optimistic about having Zach join us in training camp, we understand and support him in this difficult decision. On behalf of Canada Basketball, I would like to congratulate him on being drafted into the NBA. We look forward to welcoming him to a future training camp and wish him the best of luck preparing for next season.”

The Toronto native had a stellar two-year run with Purdue to close out his collegiate career, winning back-to-back Wooden Awards as the top player in college basketball. He also brought the team to the National Championship for the first time since 1969, where they eventually lost to repeat champs UConn.

“I have made the difficult decision of pulling myself out of the process to compete for a spot at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with Canada,” Edey said in a statement released by Canada Basketball. “Since last summer, I have been training and competing nonstop to achieve my goals of winning a national championship at Purdue and making it to the NBA. I have a duty now to properly prepare for all that is coming my way with being drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies. The work I put in this summer on my body and my game is critical for me to be the best version of myself. Thank you to Canada Basketball and all the fans for your support and understanding. Representing Canada in the Olympics remains a lifelong dream of mine, but for now, I look forward to being the team’s biggest fan from this side of the Atlantic.”

Barrett had pointed to Edey being a question mark on the opening day of training camp on Friday. The big man wasn’t on the floor and Barrett wasn’t certain at that time of whether Edey would participate.

“I’m in conversation with his agent and with Memphis, it looks like they’re bringing him in town today,” Barrett told reporters on Friday. “The draft now being two days as opposed to one kind of pushes it a day.

“So they’re gonna go in, have their conversations with him and amongst themselves and then I’ll be hearing from (Grizzlies GM) Zach Kleiman in just a bit.”

Canada’s Olympic run will begin on July 27 as they take on the winner of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Greece, with Slovenia and Greece looking like the favourites to earn the spot.

— With files from Associated Press

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