His basketball skills have embarrassed the world’s best defences, but Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving faces imposing regulation, resistance and red tape before he will be allowed to represent Australia in international competition.
The rules of international basketball governing body Fiba prevent a player who has played for one nation as an adult to then represent a second one, unless an exemption is provided by the sport’s secretary general.
Another former Team USA player, Klay Thompson – and a teammate of Irving in Dallas – was in discussions last year around representing the Bahamas, the country of his father’s birth.
Irving’s case appears stronger than Thompson’s given he was born in Australia, however there is no guarantee Irving would figure in the Boomers’ plans in coming years.
Irving admitted “there’s a lot of paperwork” before he could wear the green and gold, and revealed that Team USA needs to decide whether or not they will permit such a change.
