Jamal Murray won’t play for Canada at LA Olympics or in World Cup

Jamal Murray will not represent Canada at this summer’s World Cup qualifiers, with the Denver Nuggets guard left off the 23-man roster announced Monday — a late development that also rules him out of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics under the program’s three-year commitment policy.

The program’s general manager confirmed no Blue Arrow, on a team featuring two-time NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

“No, Jamal Murray is not committed to playing in the program going forward,” says Canada GM Rowan Barrett. “He’s got tremendous desire to play for the country, but sometimes there are things going on with the athletes that prevent them from doing so.”

Because the program requires Canadian basketball players make a three-year commitment for the Olympics, Murray not playing this summer will exclude him from being on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic team. Murray isn’t alone, as Andrew Wiggins and Shaedon Sharpe also did not commit.

What’s strange about Murray’s case is that he was featured on promo material for the team within the last few weeks for later this summer. It may hint at a late change of mind about participating, which could be due to any number of reasons including some that would worry Nuggets fans. Though it’s worth noting that Murray leaving the group comes after a very tumultuous 2024 Paris Olympics where his lack of playing time and underperforming became a main storyline for the Canadians and around the basketball world. Canada went home early, which was a shock after they placed third at the 2023 World Cup, which they did without Murray.

As recently as a few weeks ago Murray was still featured by Canada Basketball as being involved this summer. pic.twitter.com/p5b7BtDP3E

— Truenorth (@Truenor23860723) June 1, 2026

Due to injuries he’s only had a chance to play for his country just a few times as a pro. But now he’s at his best, coming off of his first appearance on All-NBA team where he averaged a career-best 25.4 points, career-high 7.1 assists and 4.4 rebounds while shooting a career-best 43.5% from beyond the arc across 75 games. His 57.3% effective field goal percentage and 21.8 PER both set new career highs as well, and he comfortably cleared the 65-game minimum required for All-NBA eligibility under the league’s collective bargaining agreement as he was one of the Nuggets most reliable players health-wise. But he had a rough postseason, which makes some wonder about his current health.

Unlike Serbia, who needs Nikola Jokic to help them win a few games this summer to get into next summer’s World Cup, Canada is already 4-0 in qualification games that came without their NBA players. Maybe Murray will get an exception but for now it’s no Murray in Los Angeles, which seems harsh.

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