Looking back at Jamal Murray's legacy in Canadian basketball

Jamal Murray is a familiar, and loved, face to Canadian basketball fans.

From growing up in Kitchener, to playing high school basketball in Orangeville, to representing the country at international events; Canada’s basketball universe has a lot of love for its home-grown talent.

As he steps onto the hardwood of the Air Canada Centre in Toronto tonight, it’s easy to follow along with his NBA success, but let’s take a look back at what his former Canadian teams have accomplished since he began to pave the way for them.

Murray attended Grand River Collegiate Institute in Kitchener for a portion of his high school career before transferring to Orangeville Prep, where he graduated.

The Grand River Renegades came into this year’s high school playoffs as underdogs and exited as semifinalists of the Waterloo County (WCSSAA) senior boys basketball playoffs.

The school has a small history of alumni moving on to play pro basketball — Imad Qahwash also attended Grand River — which a large feat for a relatively small school.

For his final two years of high school, Murray left the Renegades to join an ever-growing movement of prep basketball in Canada and began playing with Orangeville Prep.

And since Murray’s graduation in 2015, Orangeville Prep has made a name for itself across North America. In 2016, they were the runners-up in the league championship to the Athlete Institute team that was led by Thon Maker, who now plays against Murray in the NBA.

What Murray began in Orangeville would become his legacy, and the program continued to evolve, winning a championship the following year with a 36-5 overall record under head coach Nathan Johnson.

In Johnson’s first year as head coach in 2016, the team was widely regarded as the top team in Canada, recording the best single-season record of any team in academy history (including the teams with Murray and Maker).

And with Murray’s support, the team continued to grow.

This year, the team recorded three wins against Top-25 teams in the U.S., including prep power houses Huntington Prep, Westtown and Hillcrest, and lost close games to Findley and Prolific Prep. They won two tournament championships (including Westtown, led by Cam Reddish, the number two prospect in North America behind R.J. Barrett), and earned a quarterfinal Grind Session finish, which tied the best result of any Canadian team in history.

In addition to the team’s overall success, coach Johnson and Orangeville Prep helped develop the first ever five-star recruit to stay in Canada for all four years of high school — yes, even Murray didn’t accomplish that feat. Ignas Brazdeikis attended Orangeville Prep for three years, ended his junior year as a three-star recruit and earned the five-star status after committing to Michigan for next season.

And then up next for Murray was Kentucky, a school with a storied history of success at the big dance.

As a freshman, Murray was featured on the Midseason Top 25 list for the John R. Wooden Award and was named to the midseason watchlist for the prestigious Naismith Trophy. He averaged 20 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists while shooting 40.8% from the 3-point line.

Murray also led the team to a conference championship before declaring for the NBA.

And now, you’re probably reading this asking yourself how Kentucky ties in to his Canadian legacy: it’s a team that has seen Canadians have a vast amount of success. Jamaal Magloire was part of the 1998 championship Wildcat team. And just as Magloire paved the Kentucky path for Murray, Murray has done the same for Hamilton’s Shai Alexander, who averaged about 14 points per game in his rookie season this year.

Since Murray left Kentucky for the NBA, the Wildcats haven’t lost a SEC tournament game, recording championships in 2016, 2017 and again in 2018. This season, they also earned a berth to the Sweet 16 portion of March Madness before being eliminated by Kansas State.

Oh, and Kentucky is where the magic of Murray’s signature bow and arrow celebration began, and that’s another accomplishment in and of itself.

More NBA coverage on Yahoo Canada Sports: