RJ Barrett

Biography

RJ Barrett was part of Canada’s historic bronze medal-winning team at the 2023 FIBA Men’s Basketball World Cup. It was Canada’s first ever medal at the tournament. Barrett played the second-most minutes for Team Canada and ended up as the team’s number two scorer with 134 points, averaging 16.8 points per game. Barrett was among the players who committed to the national team in 2022 in the hopes of qualifying Canada for its first men’s Olympic basketball tournament since Sydney 2000.

Barrett was previously Canada’s second-leading scorer at the 2020 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Victoria where Canada missed qualifying for Tokyo 2020 after losing in overtime to Czechia in the semifinals. 

Barrett had a decorated junior career with the national development team. He was named MVP of the 2017 FIBA U19 World Cup as he led Canada to the gold medal, Canada’s first international title in basketball at any level. Barrett led the tournament in scoring, highlighted by a 38-point performance in a semifinal upset win over the USA.

Barrett was the youngest member of the Canadian team at the 2015 FIBA U16 Americas Championship but still led the squad in scoring en route to a silver medal, Canada’s best result all-time at the tournament. A year later he starred at the FIBA U17 World Championship as Canada placed fifth. He again led the team in scoring despite being two years younger than most of his teammates.

Barrett played collegiately for Duke University, winning the ACC Championship and reaching the Elite Eight at the NCAA Tournament in his sole season with the Blue Devils in 2019. He was named a First-Team All-American, as well as First-Team All-ACC and ACC All-Freshman Team.

Barrett was taken third overall in the 2019 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks. He played more than four seasons in New York, making the playoffs twice, before being traded to his hometown Toronto Raptors in December 2023. He scored a career-high 46 points in February 2022.

A Little More About RJ

Getting into the Sport: Father, Rowan Barrett, is the current General Manager of the men’s national basketball team, as well as a former member of Team Canada who competed at Sydney 2000… Born in Toronto, he grew up in France while his father was playing professionally in Europe… Godfather is Canadian basketball legend Steve Nash… Odds and Ends: Nicknames: Maple Mamba, Ducky…