That link didn't post very well, so full article below.

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LOS ANGELES - In the coming weeks, Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Kyrie Irving will have a big decision to make. The repercussions from it could follow him the rest of his career.

Irving was born in Australia while his father, Drederick, played professional basketball there, and as a result has dual citizenship. He has publicly flirted with the idea of playing for Australia in the 2012 London Olympics and reiterated Friday he hasn't made up his mind.

"Still haven’t decided," Irving said. "Really it will come down to whether or not I want to give up my whole summer."

It also comes down to his future intentions with Team USA, which just so happens to be led by his old college coach, Mike Krzyzewski. If Irving plays with Australia this summer, he would likely be ineligible to ever play with the Americans.

As it stands, Irving still has to be cleared by FIBA before he could play with Australia since he was part of the United States’ U-18 team last year. Irving said Friday he thought it was only a matter of paperwork, and if he chose to play with Australia, it wouldn’t be much of an issue.

Cavaliers coach Byron Scott was surprised to hear of Irving’s dual citizenship and opportunity to play with Australia, but said this isn’t the type of decision to make quickly or flippantly. While Irving isn’t under consideration for Team USA this summer, if he continues to progress as expected, he would likely be a strong candidate to play for the United States in 2016.

Scott said he would counsel Irving not to rush into a decision he might later regret.

"For a 19-year-old, that’s a big decision," Scott said. "He obviously needs to get as much advice as he can from a lot of people that he trusts and believes in. I know he talks to Chris Paul and Grant Hill and guys like that (former Olympians). I would seek their advice. Talk to his dad. I don’t think it’s something he’s going to take lightly and it’s something he should make sure he takes his sweet time on."

Australia earned an automatic qualification for Olympic basketball by winning FIBA’s Oceania Championship in September. Olympic basketball begins July 28 and continues until Aug. 12 this summer.

Cant really see him playing for the boomers, im sure he would rather wait 4 years and actually win a gold medal, but would be sick if he did play OZ though

The whole thing seems like a massive tease to me. Can't see Irving playing for Australia. I mean the guy is American. I don't think you would give up a chance to play for the Dream Team which he could feasibly do one day.

If he played for Australia how would that stop him being a Team USA player in the future. As long as he gets cleared back to USA from fiba/Australia wouldn't it be all good? Surely USA would want him to compete for Australia rather than sitting around instead. Would only help his game, and give the Americans an insight to how he performs on the world stage, not to mention he could bring some insight to how the Aussies and Europeans train and what not if he went back to team usa. Would be interesting to see how he would fit in with boomers though, being American really and not knowing the players much if at all

yeh agreed. Though the idea of leading a team at the age of 19 in the olympics, and having a whole country behind you would be enough to consider the decision.

I'm still hoping he chooses to play for the Boomers, but from what I've seen of him so far this season, he looks well and truly good enough to one day represent the US and if that's the case I can't see him choosing us. Its a shame because with him and Bogut anchoring the two most important positions on the court, we could really compete with the top tier for the next 2 Olympics.

The fact that he is using Australia as a second option annoys me.

Agree with Natwhereyouat, give me a guy that actually lives and breathes green and gold anyday. If he were a true aussie it wouldn't be a decision it would be fulfilling a dream.

'give up my summer' - arrogant shit, stay in the USA!!

I dunno about that ... If the hypothetical option were to have kyrie and get a bronze medal, or have a true aussie and come 4th, I'd take Kyrie and the bronze every day.

I'd like to see him in a Boomers uniform, but I just don't think it will materialise unless Bogut, Coach Brown, his family and agent can convince him otherwise.

The kid promised his dad that he would complete his degree at Duke within 5 years during the summer if he declared for the draft after last season's NCAA season. Which Id assume is one of the reasons he's heistant about giving up his summer.

Fact of the matter is I don't see him being in the USA team in 2016 if he did decide to pass on the Australian opportunity.. he's not going to get in ahead of Rose, CP3 etc

And anyone who think's having Irving in the Boomers squad is a bad idea needs more brain cells.. with him the Boomers are a good chance for a medal.

I have no issues with Kyrie wanting to play for Australia. Anyone who thinks its a bad idea need to get their heads read. If he was in green and gold, he's immediately our second best (or maybe best) player, significantly improving our chances to win Olympic or World Championship medals in the future.

When compared to the rest of the world, we have such a small pool of basketball players to choose from, if a guy who has enough talent to be a number 1 NBA draft pick wants to play for you, you don't say no.

And please people, for the love of god, stop refering to the USA as the 'Dream Team' - that was an one time only deal, and the constant use of that term undermines how great the 1992 squad were.

yeah the fact he says "Really it will come down to whether or not I want to give up my whole summer." smells to me... he hasn't even completed a full month of NBA and he's already wondering if he wants time off?

What's he gonna be like after 5 years in the NBA? Can't have BA depending on him to show for each major tournament and he maintains an attitude like that.

Things might be different if we didn't have Bogut to base things around and also to provide leadership especially in games against national teams with NBA talent but we do so this could become more trouble than it's worth.

He might be enjoying the attitude that comes from this too.

Happy to be proven wrong and once he commits it's a full commitment.

If he's speaking with Grant Hill etc. then I hope we have guys like Andrew Gaze having a yarn too. I believe Gaze, up til a few months back hadn't spoke with him directly but had had words "to his camp" about the prospect of playing for the Boomers.

On another note, Drederick Irving is a sweet name.

To me nearly every time the US play in the Olympics it's a dream team

So he hasn't played in Oz so we don't want him???? So how many NBL games has Bogut played so far ? And how many of the Oz squad are currently playing in Australia? A lot of them only know the other squad players because they have seen photographs....

Don't fret about a nineteen year old having a few verbal gaffes. They all do that.

The actual chance of Kyrie getting a usa olympic gig are miniscule given the known opposition, and there will be gun young guards coming out of the draft in the next three years too, and he also has to beat them out.. difficult.

IMHO he should make up his own mind, and then we will see if he is good enough to make the squad, as we do with all our overseas players. A great proportion of all our olympians live and train overseas.. in all the sports.