Kyrie Irving’s plan to play for Australian Boomers at LA 2028 Olympic Games revealed
He has won a NBA championship, but could Kyrie Irving be the key to the Boomers winning their first Olympic gold medal?
The Dallas Maverick dropped a bombshell after the NBA All-Star mini-tournament yesterday that he was “in the process” of seeing if he would be eligible to play for Australia, given he was born here.
“Man, we’re in the process of that right now, just trying to figure out the best route for me to be eligible,” Irving said.
Sign up to The Nightly's newsletters.
Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“There’s a lot of paperwork involved. Obviously, USA still has a decision to make, but for me, I’m just trying to do what’s best. Honestly, if I can be an Aussie at one point in my career and play for the Australian team, that would be great.”
The 2016 Olympic gold medallist was born in Melbourne in 1992 when his father Drederick was playing for former Boomers coach Brett Brown in the SEABL for Bulleen.
He moved to the US when he was two yearsold but is a dual Australian-United States citizen.
Irving has played 17 games for Team USA, earning MVP honours at the 2014 FIBA World Cup before winning gold at the Rio Olympic Games.
After he was left out of the Team USA squad for the Paris Games last year, the 2016 NBA title winner hinted that he might be willing to play in the green and gold.
“I would love to entertain playing for Team Australia,” he told The Athletic in October.
“I don’t think it’s a strong, strong possibility at this point, depending on what the Olympic Committee does. But as a competitor, I was born in Australia. For me, it’s not a hard transition to make, but I don’t want to fall into the same, I would say, probably like — I’m trying to be very intentional with my words here. I don’t want to fall into the trap of being let down or disappointed when I know that there are other opportunities out there for me.”
It would appear that desire has now been further progressed with Basketball Australia. For Irving to play for Australia, he would need the OK from Basketball USA and FIBA.
The nine-time NBA All-Star would add explosive scoring power to the Boomers team, which is in a transition phase as the older stars, Joe Ingles, Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova make way for the rising stars of Australian basketball, Josh Giddey Dyson Daniels and Josh Green.
The Boomers have never played in a Olympic gold medal match and lost in overtime to Serbia in the quarterfinals in Paris after winning a bronze medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
The team struggled to blow teams away offensively in Paris, relying on grinding out games with much of the offence centred around Giddey and ageing star Mills.
At 32 years old, Irving would be 36 by the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028, meaning it would likely be his second and last Olympics.
Basketball Australia is reportedly in talks with Irving, according to the Herald Sun, but whether the Boomers would want to commit to the veteran for just one shot at a gold medal remains to be seen.
Irving is averaging 24.6 points for Dallas and will take on more responsibility in the back court for the Mavericks following the Luka Doncic trade to the LA Lakers.
