Canada Basketball Announce Preliminary Roster for 2025 AmeriCup Qualifiers – Raptors Republic

The SMNT is finally back in action for the first time since the 2024 Paris Olympics. In Window #2 of the 2025 AmeriCup Qualifiers, Canada will take on the Dominican Republic (Nov 21st) and Mexico (Nov 24th) in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. With tip off a couple weeks away, Canada Basketball officially unveiled their 15-man preliminary roster:

Guards:

• Trae Bell-Haynes *
• Tyler Ennis *
• Marcus Carr *
• Kadre Gray *
• Stef Smith

Wings

• Jackson Rowe *
• Aaron Best *
• Lloyd Pandi *
• Nate Darling *
• Quincy Guerrier *
• Jahvon Henry-Blair

Bigs

• Mfiondu Kabengele *
• Thomas Kennedy *
• Fardaws Aimaq *
• Josip Vrankic

(* denotes my projected final 12)

Quick Thoughts on the Roster

First things first, Mfiondu Kabengele, if he does make the trip to Saskatoon later this month, is a huge get for the SMNT. As I wrote a couple weeks ago, Kabengele is having a breakout season in Venice at the EuroCup level and it’s only a matter of time before he gets scooped up by a EuroLeague club. Players of his calibre aren’t usually available for National Team duties in these windows (due to an ongoing dispute between FIBA and the EuroLeague) so it’s nice to see Canada Basketball proactively trying to incorporate him now. Perhaps that surprising invite to the Paris Olympics Training Camp this past summer came along with an unspoken agreement that Kabengele would be the focal point of the “Winter Core”. As the driver of the Mfiondu Kabengele bandwagon in the Canadian basketball media landscape, I’m ecstatic that he’s on this preliminary roster.

While it was obvious that the 2028 Olympic cycle would mean a cohort of new players establishing themselves in the “Winter Core”, I am a bit surprised with how many new faces are already involved, given this is the first scheduled games of the 2028 cycle. Only six players return from the Window 1 Qualifier games earlier this year in February and I wouldn’t be surprised if they make up the core of the rotation. I’m especially excited that Jackson Rowe has continued to be available despite playing in the G-League with the Santa Cruz Warriors. Trae Bell-Haynes meanwhile has had a superb start to his season overseas, even garnering some EuroLeague interest from Barcelona. With each window that passes, it’s getting more and more evident that Thomas Kennedy is becoming an integral part of the “Winter Core” and the amount of playmaking reps he gets will be something to track.

A total of six players are first-time invites to the SMNT and there is quite a bit of young talent being injected into Canada’s player pool. And by “young” I’m referencing the fact that the following players are relatively inexperienced at the professional level, despite being between the ages of 25-26, which isn’t young in NBA terms. Fardaws Aimaq is the biggest surprise invite to me. Just last year, the 6’11” C from British Columbia was playing in the NCAA (albeit as a 25 year old senior) for the University of California. Fast forward a year and Aimaq has had a strong start in the FIBA Europe Cup in his first pro season. Back in March when I had covered him along with Josh Codinera, I projected Aimaq as a future “Winter Core” Bench big down the line. It’s wild that he’s already slotting into that role with the SMNT in his 1st available window.

Marcus Carr is another first time-invite that I think is a good fit for the “Winter Core”. He made the bold decision to skip the G-League and start his pro career immediately overseas with a EuroCup level Greek Club, Aris BC. While his first stint in Europe didn’t go smoothly, Carr has slowly been raising his stock in Israel, where he’s averaging 18.0 PPG (on 40.7/45.8/77.3 shooting splits) and 7.0 AST (small sample size of 4 games). He first made noise at Minnesota in his Junior season after some incredible scoring games, albeit at wildly inefficient clips. Since his transfer to Texas, Carr has developed quite well and he finished his collegiate career as the all-time Canadian NCAA D1 leader in assists and games played (he is 2nd all time in points as well). With the “Winter Core”, I think his tenacious and improved POA defense will be immediately impactful and should earn him a spot on the final roster in this Window. As his offensive game further matures, Carr can blossom into a key contributor to the SMNT.

While the addition of new talent (and reintroduction in the case of Tyler Ennis) has been a welcome surprise, the omissions from this preliminary roster are also something to note. SMNT stalwarts of the last two Olympic cycles like Phil Scrubb (1992), Thomas Scrubb (1991), Kaza Kajami-Keane (1994), Melvin Ejim (1992) and Kyle Wiltjer (1992) are all not making the trip to Saskatoon. By the time the 2028 Olympics roll around these vets will all be in their mid 30’s so it’s inevitable that they would eventually be phased out of the SMNT in the next four years. While I do think it’s a little premature to say their SMNT days are completely behind them as they all continue to be meaningful contributors for top-tier European domestic clubs, the timing of their omissions is quite interesting. Based on their unwavering commitments to the SMNT in the past, I have to assume that it’s Canada Basketball going in another direction for this qualifier window. Perhaps they have decided to use this AmeriCup as more of a “developmental” competition as they did in 2022 to bring more players into the fold.