Lockdown defender Matisse Thybulle joins veterans Mills, Ingles in star-studded Boomers squad

SYDNEY (Australia) - Veterans Pat Mills, Joe Ingles, Aron Baynes and Matthew Dellavedova will play for Australia at the Tokyo Olympics and be joined by a host of talented players, including lockdown defender Matisse Thybulle.

Mills and Ingles have competed at the last three Olympics and both Baynes and Dellavedova the previous two. The addition of several players that have yet to appear at the Summer Games gives the Boomers a new but exciting look as they prepare to participate in Group B against Nigeria, and the July 4 winners of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments in Split, Croatia, and Belgrade, Serbia.

Australia Team for the Tokyo Olympics
Aron Baynes	Matthew Dellavedova	Dante Exum	Christoper Goulding	Joshua Green
Joe Ingles	Nicholas Kay	Jock Landale	Patty Mills	Duop Reath
Nathan Sobey	Matisse Thybulle

Mills and Ingles  played for Australia at the last three Olympics, starting in Beijing in 2008, while Baynes and Dellavedova represented the country at the London Olympics in 2012 and the Rio Games in 2016.

The Boomers have never finished on the podium at the Olympics or the FIBA Basketball World Cup, but they have come oh so close. In Rio five years ago, they were seconds away from a Bronze Medal Game victory over Spain but lost, 89-88. At the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019, they almost reached the Final but again fell to Spain after two overtimes and then lost to France in the Third-Place Game.

"Unfinished business is in the forefront of all our minds," Baynes said. "We're all excited to get out there and chase that gold medal."

Thybulle, 24, is an eye-opening addition. He has a reputation as one of the premier defensive players in the NBA with Philadelphia. He made the All-Defensive Second Team after coming off the bench and averaging 20 minutes per game this season.

"As a kid you see the (Olympic) stage and how big it is, for me I couldn't even imagine myself having the opportunity to be there," Thybulle said. "Now this is real and becoming even more real as each day goes by, it's a special opportunity and I want to experience all of it."

Mills averaged 22.8 points per game at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in China

Dante Exum had been pencilled in for previous major tournaments with Australia but was knocked out with injuries, so his inclusion is a big moment for the player and the Boomers.

Chris Goulding, an Olympian in Rio, along with Nicholas Kay, Jock Landale and Nathan Sobey were all in the Australia squad that played at the World Cup in China.

Expectations are high for Joshua Green, who has one year of the NBA under his belt with the Dallas Mavericks, and for 25-year-old Duop Reath, a 2.11m  (6ft 11in) center who spent the 2020-21 season with Crvena Zvezda in Serbia.

"It's going to take buying in to being together," Thybulle said. "What I love about that is that is not going to be a hard thing for this team to do, with how passionate we are and the reality of how capable we are to do it.

"The more cohesive we become as a unit, the better we're going to be. We have the talent, it's just a matter of doing it together."