The 2024 Paris Olympics featured a star-studded roster for Team USA, with 12 NBA players representing the country. However, despite his stellar last season and leading the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals after a decade, Kyrie Irving could not make the Team USA lineup.
During a recent interview with The Athletic’s Sam Amick, Irving revealed that he had considered playing for Team Australia at the 2028 LA Olympics. Irving, who was born in Melbourne, Australia, shared that representing the country of his birth had crossed his mind.
“I would love to entertain playing for Team Australia, man. 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,” Irving said.
“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,” he added.
Kyrie Irving Reflects On His Absence From Team USA Roster For The 2024 Olympics
During a recent interview with The Athletic, Kyrie Irving opened up about his feelings regarding his absence from the Team USA roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Though the ambassador of ANTA has had a decorated history with Team USA, winning three gold medals, he expressed some confusion about not being able to participate in the tryouts for this year’s team.
“I won’t say it was hurtful not to be able to try out, but it just was weird that we weren’t able to try out and get together as a group, because the USA team is not just 12 guys or 15 guys,” Irving said.
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Irving has deep ties to Team USA, having played for the national team since his teenage years. Hence, Team USA’s straight fifth gold medal win will remain a tough memory for the Mavs star.
