Over on TrueHoop (via Bullets Forever) a bit of wild idea get tossed around about how Gilbert could end up on an Olympic team, even if it isn’t the Dream Team:

I’m not sure what the rules say about this but can we possibly see something play out where an NBA All-Star will don the uniform of a different country a la Becky Hammon of the WNBA?

I’m thinking the Chinese team desperately needs a guard, and wouldn’t it be compelling to see Gilbert Arenas play for them? Arenas can stick it to U.S. Basketball for sending him home and imagine the $$$ and marketing possibilities for him if the Chinese team starts winning games.

There are only 12 roster spots on the U.S. team and, as the Beijing Olympics has shown, these future international tournaments will be HUGE!!!!

It would be easy to dismiss this as wild speculation with no chance of coming to fruition, but in a world where you can change your last name to a grammatically incorrect Spanish translation of your uniform number, anything is possible.

Let’s not forget that Gilbert loved his time in Asia this summer, so he probably wouldn’t mind having a nation of adoring fans behind him. Having Yao Ming (if he decides to come back for the 2012 games) and Yi Jianlian probably wouldn’t hurt the cause either.

Certainly there’d be a major uproar if Gilbert did decide to give up his citizenship in order to play for China, but it’s not like he’s never been in the middle of a political controversy before.