Team Canada’s basketball player RJ Barrett follows his father’s footsteps at the Games

RJ Barrett was still in diapers when his dad Rowan Barrett captained Canada’s basketball team at the Sydney Olympics, the last time the Canadian men played on the Olympic stage.

Twenty-four years later, wearing his dad’s number nine, RJ Barrett poured in a team-high 23 points to lead Canada to an 86-79 victory over Greece in their opening game of the Paris Olympics on Saturday.

“The last time that we were here, I was just born and my dad was wearing this number,” RJ (Rowan Jr.) said. “For me to be here, with this group of guys, it’s amazing.”

Both Barretts scored 20-plus points in their Olympic debuts, with Rowan, now the general manager of Canada’s men’s program, scoring 21 against Australia back in 2000.

“Fast forward 24 years and it’s a crazy experience,” said RJ Barrett.

The younger Barrett grew up in the Canadian basketball program. His godfather is two-time NBA MVP and Basketball Hall of Famer Steve Nash, who starred on Canada’s 2000 Olympic team.

From the age of 12, Barrett was a regular attendee of Canadian senior team practices, sometimes working at one end of the gym with Nash.

“I don’t think everyone realizes my long connection with Canada Basketball,” Barrett said in a recent CBC interview.

A framed number nine Canada jersey hangs in the Barretts’ home in Mississauga. It is Rowan’s, not RJ’s.

“My dad would always say, ’You know what? You might go further in your NBA career than I did, but I made it to the Olympics, so until you’ve done that, you’re not the head of the household,” laughed Barrett, who also wears number nine for the Toronto Raptors.

Barrett credits his mom’s side of the family for his athleticism. His mom Kesha Duhaney was a sprinter for St. John’s University in New York, while his aunt Dahlia Duhaney is a 1992 Olympian for Jamaica and was a member of the 4×100-metre relay team that won a gold medal at the 1991 world athletics championships.

The younger Barrett, who went third overall in the 2019 draft to the New York Knicks, is hoping to best his dad’s finish of seventh at the 2000 Sydney Games and climb the medal podium.

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