Canada Basketball has been a powerhouse for decades. Well, not quite. Canadian basketball has been a powerhouse. But Canada Basketball has floundered. There have been waves of success, momentum, followed by the crashing of the wave against outclassed underdogs.
“It was a failure for many, many decades. I think quietly beneath that failure, there were certain building blocks being put into place that would enable future success,” says Oren Weisfeld, author of The Golden Generation.
More and more Canadian players reached the NBA. The organization grew and strengthened and found players who would eventually draw sponsors. Basketball talent in the country surged even as the national program mired in disappointment.
What was going on? That was what Weisfeld set out to uncover when he wrote The Golden Generation. With his new book set to be released on Nov. 4, 2025, the former Raptors Republic writer sat down with me to discuss his upcoming book, his debut into the world of international basketball, and most of all, why Canada Basketball is finally thriving.
“It’s a story about failure and success. Or, it’s a story of success that was happening under the national team’s nose — which was failing at the time. The success stories were at the grassroots level,” says Weisfeld.
He begins the story in the 1970s, as Canada’s immigration policy shifted to allow more migrants from outside of Europe. That first generation of players didn’t make it to the NBA, but they laid the groundwork. RJ Barrett was the perfect encapsulation. His chapter in the book was a direct comparison between the resources and organizational strengths available to him that weren’t available to his father when he was on the national team.
“The story of the book is each generation learns, they experience stuff, they gain knowledge overseas and in America especially, and then they bring it back home and they pass that knowledge down to the next generation,” says Weisfelt.
“And I think that’s really the story of what’s happened in Canada is former players, parents, coaches, executives, going through their own experiences in basketball, learning everything they could and then passing it down. That’s the reason I wanted to dedicate the first half of the book, which is called Tribal Knowledge, to those people.”
Which is why Junior Cadougan and those like him earn the place of pride so early in the book. They are represented on the cover, as well, with “those historical figures holding up the flag.”
It wasn’t always straightforward. Canada Basketball had its fair share of humiliating losses. More than its fair share. In 2015, a Canucks squad that featured NBAers like Andrew Wiggins, Kelly Olynyk, Anthony Bennett, and others lost to a Venezuelan team that was largely led by players who never even made it to Europe, let alone the NBA. The winner went to the Olympics. Weisfeld says that loss was the worst of all.
But of course, later came Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Dillon Brooks, and success. Not the success that they wanted, not in the 2024 Olympics. But a bronze medal in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, beating the United States in the bronze-medal game. It wasn’t a gold for the golden generation, but it was one of the most striking moments of success in the history of the program. All catalyzed by the decades of failure, of grassroots growth, of unbelievable player development. Weisfeld covers that beautifully, too.
And Weisfeld ends his book with a fitting full-circle moment. The story begins in the grassroots, with Canadian basketball players who can’t make it to the highest level but enable the future success of those who do. And it ends with Canadian basketball players who are making an actual Canadian league into that highest level of ball. The CEBL enters Weisman’s story at the end, as a fitting outgrowth of the past while at the same time unlocking the future.
“The CEBL is an incredibly underrated part of the infrastructure that 10 years from now, we’re going to look back on it and say, ‘oh, how come nobody was covering that?’ says Weisfeld. “And that’s with respect to the people that do it. But, I mean, the major outlets, they’re not covering it. And meanwhile, we have, I would say, a top-10 league in the world. In our backyards, we have the best Canadian players often spending their summers there.”
I covered Junior Cadougan in the CEBL half a decade ago. At the time, I didn’t realize his individual importance to the history of basketball in this country. And since I covered the CEBL, the league has exploded. Franchise valuations have boomed by more than tenfold, and even celebrities have used the league to chase their real dreams.
Weisfeld answered the question of what was going on with Canada Basketball even as Canadian basketball exploded. He wrote a fantastic book. Enjoy The Golden Generation when it comes out. It is a fitting testament to the story of Canadian basketball, and it is a point of pride that it comes from a former Raptors Republic writer.
The Golden Generation launches on Nov. 4, and he has a book launch party on Nov. 2. You can pre-order the book now.
