Canada’s men’s basketball team is in a position to secure its first Olympic medal since 1936, and could potentially upset Team USA to claim gold.

The best version of Nickeil Alexander-Walker would play a big role in the country achieving that feat.

That edition of the wing, who is an on-ball defensive hawk and playmaker and shoots with confidence on offense, continues to pop up more regularly for the Timberwolves.

He was that guy in Minnesota’s first-round NBA playoff series victory over Phoenix last season, when he made a number of impressive plays out of the pick and roll and made life difficult for the Suns’ talented wings.

But in the NBA, you are defined by what you can consistently do. And while Alexander-Walker was very consistent in what he brought to the Timberwolves throughout the regular season, his impact waned over the final two rounds of the playoffs against Denver and, even more so, versus Dallas in the Western Conference Finals.

Shots stopped falling for Alexander-Walker, while Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving hit a number of tough buckets with Alexander-Walker draped all over them. As each bad thing happened throughout the course of the game, you could visibly see Alexander-Walker starting to press. That led to poor results.

Alexander-Walker has put a lot of work into growing mentally as a player, but he’s still someone whose success is often linked to the confidence with which he plays.

Ideally for the Timberwolves, Alexander-Walker cements a solid, consistent role for Canada, which opens Olympic play at 2 p.m. Central on Saturday with a group play game against Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece, in these Games. If he plays well, the rest of the Canadian roster — which is stocked with players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray, Lu Dort and Dillon Brooks — is talented enough to indeed contend for a medal.

All of that would be a massive boon for the soon-to-be 26-year-old, who is about to enter another contract year in Minnesota. Those bring pressure and expectations that can at times deter a player from performing to the best of his capabilities.

That can’t happen in a season in which the Timberwolves will carry legitimate title aspirations, and Alexander-Walker is a key piece of the championship puzzle. He is a talented, tenacious 3-and-D wing with the ability to do even more for a team, so long as he maintains his belief in himself as an individual.

So should Alexander-Walker spend the next few weeks playing his patented in-your-grill perimeter defense while knocking down shots and effectively running some offense while helping Canada hoist gold in August, it may be a step toward him doing the same for the Timberwolves next June.

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