She never tires of watching Steph Curry. She’s a big Kobe fan.

But Tamara Tatham’s ultimate favourite basketball player is LeBron James.

"I love LeBron's game," says the six-foot-one forward from Brampton. "That's something that I wish I could do but definitely can't. He's a good example for a lot of people because he's so dynamic in a lot of the ways."

She may not think so, but Tamara is possibly the closest thing to LBJ on the Canadian Olympic team. Just as King James is a triple-double machine, Tamara is perhaps the player most likely to lead her team in any given category on any given night. And just as LeBron brought the NBA Championship to Cleveland, Tamara was a driving force Canada’s historic double-gold medal triumph last summer.

At the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games, Tamara ranked first in steals, second in points, second in assists, third in offensive rebounds, and third in blocks among Canadian players. Then a few weeks later at the FIBA Americas Championship in Edmonton she was second on Team Canada in offensive rebounds, second in steals, and fifth in points. Canada clinched a spot in the Rio Games and for her efforts Tamara was named to the All-2015 FIBA Americas Women’s Team.

"Qualifying for the Olympics was great, Pan-Am was also great, and just winning two gold medals was great," says Tamara. "The Pan-Am medal was my first gold and it was in Toronto so that's one of my favourite memories."

Even more important than the stats, awards and titles Tamara shares with James is a common intangible, one that she has brought to the national team without fail since first donning her country’s colours as a 19-year-old at the 2005 FISU Games in Turkey.

"What we classify as being Canadian is to always play with pride," says Tamara, who has played more than 150 international games and was part of the 2012 Olympic team.

"We always play with heart and pride. Over the past 10 years that's one of the biggest things we've definitely stuck to."

By: Brian Swane