R.J. Barrett has been a standout player for the Duke Blue Devils this year, a team that has a good chance of going all the way to the National title game in April. Barrett, who is from Canada, believes that Canadian basketball is on the rise, especially with all the talent from the country headed to the NCAA and the NBA respectively.
Barrett is currently projected to be a top 5 draft pick in the 2019 NBA Entry Draft. There are other Canadians who could go high in the draft as well, including Arizona State's Luguentz Dort and Virginia Tech's Nickeil Alexander-Walker who have had standout seasons for their teams.
In an article by Sportingnews, Barrett commented on all the Canadians putting in work saying "Everybody's doing well and everybody's achieving their goals so it's great to see Canadian basketball on the rise."
The Duke rookie has also impressed fellow Canadian and NBA player Tristan Thompson, who tweeted about the young player a few weeks ago.
Some are already predicting where Barrett will end up but he's not interested in the speculation.
"I'm still here at Duke so we gotta win a national championship," Barrett said. Considering the Cleveland Cavaliers are having a bad season, it's not a stretch to say Barrett might be playing with Thompson very soon.