Kyrie Irving flags desire to play for Boomers in USA-to-Australia switch

Australia's men's basketball team could get a major boost with news that NBA All Star and champion Kyrie Irving is keen to switch allegiances to the country of his birth.

Irving, who was born in Melbourne in 1992 while father Drederick was playing for the Bulleen Boomers, told media during NBA All-Star Weekend in San Francisco he is "in the process" of trying to switch his eligibility.

"There's a lot of paperwork involved," the 32-year-old was quoted as saying.

"Obviously, USA still has a decision to make, but for me, I'm just trying to do what's best.

No comment will be made from Basketball Australia unless formal steps of the process occur.

Irving won gold with Team USA at the Rio Olympics, where he helped the Americans to a 98-88 group stage win over the Boomers, five years after he was selected with the number one pick in the NBA Draft.

The 2016 Games also came just months after he hit one of the biggest shots in NBA history to hand the Cleveland Cavaliers their first NBA championship with a game-seven win over Stephen Curry's Golden State Warriors.

Brian Goorjian, who stepped down as Boomers coach after the Paris Olympics, said he had never spoken to Irving but heard about his interest to play for Australia in the lead-up to last year's Games, after Irving was left off the American squad.

Goorjian said that sort of shot-maker is the last piece of the puzzle for the Boomers that could help them win gold at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The Australian men's team lost close games to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Canada and Greece, led by two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, in the group stage, and an overtime thriller against three-time reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokić and Serbia in the quarterfinals.

While the Boomers' chemistry and elite talent kept them in those contests, their opponents' superstar leaders took over in crunch time.

"Having a player of that ilk with the ball in his hand that can make his own play and score was kind of the piece [we were missing]," Goorjian told the ABC Sport Daily podcast.

"That is an important piece if we're gonna get that elusive gold medal. Kyrie fits that bill, he can score at the highest level off his own bat.

"That scoring piece is something the Boomers could really, really use.

"Who's the guy that you give the ball to [and] get out of his way to make a play when you're under pressure?"

Patty thrills one last time but it's not enough for Boomers

Patty Mills delivered one last iconic Olympics moment for Australia, but for all the Boomers' effort and guts, defeat to Serbia in their Paris Games quarterfinal represented a missed opportunity.

Captain Patty Mills has been that man for years, but struggled in the last Olympics, hitting 13/37 field goal attempts in three group games before leading the scoring against Serbia, where he hit just one shot in the fourth quarter and overtime.

And nine-time NBA All Star Irving is on a different level in terms of shot-making, with an NBA career scoring average almost three times higher than Mills.

But Mills's role has been more than his on-court leadership and scoring, helping to establish a strong Boomers culture that guided the team to its first Olympic medal, bronze in Tokyo in 2021.

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The golden era's Mills, Joe Ingles, Matthew Dellavedova, Andrew Bogut and Aron Baynes are all gone or on their way out, handing the baton to young stars like Josh Giddey, Dyson Daniels, Josh Green and Jock Landale.

Goorjian said he would be worried how introducing Irving, who moved to the US when he was two years old, could affect that culture, which is tied into decades of Australian basketball history.

"I have no understanding or feel for how that part would work," he said.

"But for Kyrie and the group, because he's a dynamic player, that piece would be very, very important moving forward."