Turkey is looking to grant citizenship to U.S. national former NBA star Shane Larkin so that the player can join the national side, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said.
Larkin, who is on his second season with Anadolu Efes, himself had also expressed interest in playing for the Turkish national team, echoing Turkish national team coach Ufuk Sarıca.
"It would be a great offer, if it comes. I feel this is more like a home for me. Turkey's jersey would look pretty good on me too," Larkin said in an interview on Turkish television in September.
The 27-year-old had an unstable career at the NBA, playing one season each for the Dallas Mavericks (2013-14), New York Knicks (2014-15), Brooklyn Nets (2015-16). Later, he joined the Spanish side Baskonia (2016-17), and went back to Boston Celtics (2017-18), before joining Turkey's Anadolu Efes last year.
Sarıca had complained about possible difficulties of the player getting a Turkish passport, but Erdoğan's support means that the paperwork can be a formality.
"We will do what we need to do about it. We would like to see such a successful basketball player in our national team. Larkin can take our national team to very good results", Erdoğan said during a TV interview on Sunday.
Anadolu Efes is paying $2.6 million net to Larkin, who will get $2.8 million net for the 2020-21 season if he stays in Istanbul.
Larkin, currently playing for Istanbul team Anadolu Efes, has averaged 22 points, 3.8 assists, and 3.3 rebounds in 12 games of the EuroLeague's 2019-2020 season, making him the league's current scoring leader.
After joining Anadolu Efes in the summer of 2018, Larkin has been an influential player for his team, during the club's march to the EuroLeague final, as well as Turkish league title.
Recently, Ohio-born Larkin was named November's MVP by EuroLeague, after breaking the scoring record in a game against Bayern Munich in Istanbul with 49 points.
Anadolu Efes, the current regular season leader of the EuroLeague, has a 11-2 win/loss record.
2020 FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments will take place in 23-28 June, 2020.
Turkey will take part in tournament in Victoria with Czech Republic, Uruguay, Greece, China and Canada.
