The basketball summer is bound to be electric. After the NBA Finals ends, it’s only a month-long wait for the Paris Olympics. Team USA, after losing the FIBA World Cup, is on a mission to avenge their shortcomings. It needs an assembly of the greats once again. LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry all will play on the same side. But there’s no place for a certain Kyrie Irving. He’s been sensational at Dallas this season. After a rampant regular season improvement, he has been at the core of the Mavs’ NBA Finals journey. Irving has averaged 22.8 points and 5.2 assists playing behind Luka Doncic. However, his numbers barely do justice.

As a complimentary, Irving has played wisely, choosing the vital moments to attack. His dexterity and experience allowed him to play such a role. However, his NBA successes didn’t correspond to a selection for Steve Kerr’s USA side that will travel to Paris. Steph Curry, Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday, Tyrese Haliburton and Anthony Edwards, who Irving recently bested, are chosen as the guards for the competition.

Notably, Kyrie Irving wasn’t petty about his snub, rather, he was understanding. “I have nothing but respect for those guys over at USA B. At this point in my career, I think my focus should be on winning the Championship” he commented when asked about his feelings over his non-selection. But if life went a different direction, could we have seen the craftiness of ‘an Aussie’ Irving at the Olympics?

Exploring Kyrie Irving’s ‘mixed’ ethnicity and nationality

Let’s decode Kai’s ethnicities. His late mother, Elizabeth Irving, was of African-American and Lakota ethnicity. His father, Drederick Irving, is of African-American descent. The senior Irving played basketball in the Australian league, where Kyrie was eventually born. After his mother’s untimely passing when he was just 4, Drederick retired himself to pass on his basketball wisdom to his son.

He returned to the US to allow Irving to pursue his ambitious basketball dreams. Despite having spent the majority of his life in America, Irving regards the Land Down Under as his home. He recalled instances of his teammates laughing when he brought it up.

“I consider myself an international player even though I played on Team USA”, the eight-time All-Star once admitted on a Twitch live stream. Kyrie Irving always wanted to be a Boomer. However, his dream never materialized. One can’t help but imagine Irving in the yellow Boomers jersey besides ample NBA talent like Patty Mills and Ben Simmons on the same court!

Some things just aren’t meant to be.

Kyrie Irving’s international stats

At the young age of 18, Irving’s talents had reached a global stage. Team USA coaches didn’t hesitate to approach the youngster. Fans might recall his iconic clip of dribbling past the entire Team USA during scrimmage. The enigmatic Mavericks star represented Team USA in the 2016 Olympics, where the country bagged 46 gold medals, basketball proudly being one of them.

During that tournament, Irving emerged as one of the team’s leading scorers averaging 11.4 points in eight games. Kai also became only the fourth athlete of the USA National Team to win an NBA Championship and Olympic gold in the same year. The other three are LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and Scottie Pippen. Before this Olympics stint, he represented Team US in the 2014 FIBA World Cup. He helped them keep a spotless run and put up 12.1 points on 56% shooting.

Without a doubt, Paris will miss the artistic finishes and borderline mental shot-making of Kyrie Irving.