Family ties fuel Timberwolves guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker in first Olympics with Canada

LAS VEGAS – As Nickeil Alexander-Walker was about to leave home for several weeks to begin Olympic preparations with Team Canada, his newborn son was sleeping.

Alexander-Walker wanted a few final moments with him, so he woke him up to spend one last bit of quality time before catching a flight.

“It’s tough. I didn’t want to leave,” Alexander-Walker said. “... I woke him up, just because I wanted to see him and be with him and give him a kiss. It’s tough right now, because they’re growing so fast and everything he does is new. I feel like I’m missing everything.”

But the reason Alexander-Walker left home was for another opportunity he didn’t want to miss — the chance to represent his home country at the highest level on the international stage. Family is still a part of Alexander-Walker’s time away from home, as he will play in his first Olympics with his cousin, Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

“All of us like growing up in Canada, me and Shai, it’s just how we envisioned this stage and watching the greats before us do this for their country,” said Alexander-Walker, a Toronto native. “It’s a rite of passage, if you will, and as I’ve been playing and practicing and getting more into this, you start to see what it means to the country when you go back home.”

After the season ended, Alexander-Walker said he spent about 10 days just being with his family before he launched back into work mode to prepare for Paris. It was clear the loss in the Western Conference finals to Dallas still weighed on Alexander-Walker’s mind both individually and from a team perspective. He felt like Dallas was able to game plan for him, and he wants to be more versatile offensively coming into next season after going just 6-for-21 in that series.

“Paying attention to the game. Not falling for certain things,” Alexander-Walker said. “Teams will game plan certain ways. Just [focusing on] all the weaknesses and areas of improvement for myself: putting the ball on the ground more, being more confident and aggressive to make plays downhill as opposed to just coming off screens and shooting catch-and-shoot threes.

“... Value the ball, value possessions. The importance of a moment and the importance of momentum.”

Alexander-Walker will try to accomplish some of these personal goals while playing for Team Canada in Paris. The Olympics begin July 26.

The Canadians are loaded at the guard position with Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver’s Jamal Murray, and have a glut of perimeter defenders with Oklahoma City’s Lu Dort also figuring into that mix. Alexander-Walker’s role with Team Canada could be similar to what he did last season with the Wolves. Coach Jordi Fernandez said Alexander-Walker showed what he could do on the international level last summer when Canada won bronze at the World Cup, especially in a matchup against France’s Evan Fournier.

“Nickeil, as you know, he’s a very good catch-and-shoot player. He’s a threat,” said Fernandez, who was recently named head coach of the Nets. “Defensively, he’s one of the best perimeter defenders. Especially chasing shooters, getting over screens. … We think we’ll be very good defensively, and Nickeil will be a big part of it.”

During the playoffs, Alexander-Walker dinged up his left shoulder in Game 4 of the second round against Denver. He didn’t miss any time because of the injury, but he said he was playing through some pain and didn’t sleep on his left side while it was healing. His shoulder was at “99 percent” this week in Las Vegas, he said.

Alexander-Walker had five points in Canada’s loss to the United States on Wednesday when he squared up against Wolves teammate Anthony Edwards, and the two were doing a little trash talking before and after the game.

“You know how he gets,” Alexander-Walker said with a smile. “I told him he’s not scoring. I told him I’m inviting any switch we need to, any island he wants to put me on, I’m good.”

They had a few moments where that happened, but Edwards said he chose not to attack Alexander-Walker — even though he said he could have. Alexander-Walker did catch a sleeping Edwards on a backdoor cut for a layup at one point in the third quarter.

“It was great, man. Talking smack to each other a couple times,” Edwards said. “I told him I could’ve blew by him a couple times, but I wanted to run a play. He told me he wanted to iso[late] vs. me. It was fun, for sure.”

After the game the two had an extended moment with a few laughs after a postgame handshake line. Then they went their separate ways. Perhaps they’ll meet again in Paris.

Alexander-Walker plans to have his wife and son with him there. The more family he can share a career and personal milestone goal with, both on the team and not, the better.

“It’s an experience of a lifetime,” Alexander-Walker said. “And I get to share it with my family.”