Basketball is a sport dominated by the United States of America. They could win every international tournament if they want to just because of the level of talent they house. They also host the greatest basketball league in the world with the NBA, NCAA, and the NBA G-League. But with the new era of international basketball, does Kyrie Irving play for Team USA or Team Australia?
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert are just some of the big names that have shifted the talent scales in the league.
Every name on that list is award winners and all-NBA caliber players. They have been born, brought up, and even represented their country on the biggest stage. But what about Kyrie Irving? A player that is eligible to play for 2 countries.
Is Kyrie Irving Australian or American?
Kyrie Irving was born in Australia but is a citizen of the United States of America. Irving was born in Melbourne. He’s one of 3 players in NBA history that was born in Melbourne and was drafted as the 1st overall pick in the NBA draft. The others were Andrew Bogut and Ben Simmons.
However, Irving being born in Australia was just luck. Kyrie’s dad Drederick Irving played college basketball at Boston University and finished as their all-time leading scorer. He was in Boston University with former Philadelphia coach Brett Brown. At the beginning of his coaching career, he was an assistant coach for the NBL’s Melbourne Tigers and recruited Drederick Irving as one of his two American imports. Kyrie was born in Melbourne in 1992, shortly after his father’s arrival.
In 2012, Kyrie Irving had the chance to play for Team Australia in the 2012 Olympics. But he did not want to play for Team Australia. And declined the opportunity to work on getting into Team USA for the 2016 Olympics. He made the 2014 Team USA for the FIBA world cup and lead them to a Gold medal finish whilst winning the tournament’s MVP.
Ben Simmons and Kyrie Irving were born in the same city in Australia (Melbourne).
Just a random fact for you.
— HoopsHyp,e (@hoopshype) February 10, 2022
In his career, he’s had the opportunity to play with some Australian players like Dellavedova, Patty Mills, and potentially Ben Simmons next year. But the success he’s been able to achieve with Team USA will ensure he never changes the team on that front at least.