From Andrew Wiggins to Tristan Thompson to Kelly Olynyk, Canadians have announced their presence in the NBA with authority.
Xavier Rathan-Mayes, a former teammate of Wiggins with the CIA Bounce AAU program, hopes to make an impact as well when he joins the Knicks in training camp on a partially guaranteed contract.
“Most definitely, it means a lot to be from Canada, to represent this country and be another one of those guys to flourish in the NBA,” Rathan-Mayes, 23, said Sunday by phone from Toronto where he’s training with the Canadian Senior National Team for the upcoming FIBA AmeriCup 2017. “Tristan Thompson is like my big brother and like a mentor to me. Just to see some of the things that he’s doing. Andrew is one of my best friends, and Tyler Ennis [of the Lakers] is another one of my best friends. It’s definitely special, the culture that we’re building with Canada Basketball and hopefully we can continue that and do really special things here in the future.”