Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving almost cringes each time he is reminded that he was born in Melbourne and lived there for two years.
Irving's father, Drederick, played for the Bulleen Boomers in the early 1990s, and consequently his son holds dual passports.
During last year's Olympic Games in Rio, Irving would roll his eyes whenever an Australian reporter asked him if he would ever wear the green and gold.
But NBA Commissioner Adam Silver still links him to Australia. It fits the story the NBA has been trying to sell during this finals series: that the NBA is a truly global competition, ready to take on soccer as the world game.
"Australia punches well above its weight in the league, with eight players this season trailing only Canada, France and Brazil," Silver told Fairfax Media. "I enjoy watching all the Australian players - I am the Commissioner, so no favourites! - but Kyrie Irving and I went to the same college, Duke University, and it is wonderful to see him back in the finals. Australia is incredibly important to the NBA because we know how passionate Australians are when it comes to basketball."
Last season, Victorian Matthew Dellavedova gained a cultish following for the Cavs, even though he ultimately played a minimal role in their dramatic finals win over the Warriors. The season before, Andrew Bogut was part of the Warriors team that triumphed over the Cavs.
Whether there's an Australian featuring in this finals series doesn't seem to matter: in recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in the league, perhaps not seen since the glory days of the 1990s.
The TAB often spruiks that it holds more wagering turnover on the NBA than any other sporting code after horseracing. More Australians subscribe to the NBA League pass online than any country outside of the US.
This season, ESPN doubled the number of matches broadcast in Australia.
Tim Bunnell, a senior vice-president at ESPN International, said: "This year really marked a sea-change in our NBA coverage in Australia with 450 million minutes consumed - that's a 64 per cent increase. The interest in the NBA in Australia is consistent across a lot of international markets. All of the sports leagues in the US are doing well building their international profile. The NBA, given their track record and legacy in these markets, are doing a tremendous job promoting the game."
In the 1990s, the NBA flourished in Australia off the back of names such as Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neill. Now, it has LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.
"We are a global game and fans around the world increasingly know our players on a first name basis," Silver said. "The big difference now, when compared to the 1990s when Jordan, Pippen and others were in the league is social and digital media. Technology today allows us to bring our game to people everywhere.
"Our games are available in 215 countries and territories in 49 languages, and last season one billion people watched some portion of an NBA game. We also now have more than 1.3 billion people following our league, teams and players on social media.
"Fans can engage with real time content, game highlights, behind-the-scenes access, live interviews and press conferences, all of which contributes to the global popularity of our players and teams."
Silver denies that a strong NBA will hurt the game domestically, even if the National Basketball League has struggled for relevance in recent seasons as it competes in the summer months with cricket and the A-League.
"I'm not sure if this is a trend as we work with local federations and leagues around the world to continue to grow the game," Silver said. "It is good for the game of basketball to have leagues like the NBL, the Chinese Basketball Association and the EuroLeague all operate successfully.
"We are taking an active role in developing future talent in Australia, which is why we partnered this year with Basketball Australia to launch our NBA Global Academy, the NBA's elite basketball training centre at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.
"Last summer, along with our partner FIBA, we brought Basketball without Borders to Australia for the first time, holding our global basketball development and community outreach program at Dandenong Basketball Stadium in Melbourne."
As for taking on soccer as the world's most dominant sport, Silver said: "There are two dominant global sports, soccer and basketball. Clearly, soccer on a global basis is bigger than basketball right now, but we're making progress and we see enormous potential for the game to continue to grow all around the world."
The author is covering the NBA finals as a guest of ESPN. Every game of the NBA finals is live on ESPN.
