Andrew Wiggins: how a shy NBA player negotiated growing up a star in the social media era

In an extract from his new book on the rise of Canadian basketball, Oren Weisfeld examines the pressures of being a teenage star in the modern game

Andrew Wiggins was among the first superstar prospects of the social media era. Born in Thornhill, Ontario just north of Toronto, Wiggins was known internationally by the time he was 13. It wasn't always easy for the shy, small-town kid to embrace the spotlight.

After just one full season at Vaughan, Wiggins needed better competition than Canada could provide and moved on to Huntington Prep in Huntington, West Virginia - a relatively new prep school set in a small, blue-collar, sports-oriented college town near Kansas.

This is an edited extract from The Golden Generation: How Canada Became a Basketball Powerhouse by Oren Weisfeld. It's published by ECW Press for $19.95 (USD) wherever you get your books.