Australia will happily take Andrew Bogut to the Rio Olympics even if he can only play limited minutes and not until later in the tournament.
But Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis says that depends on whether he's healthy, confident and is given the tick of approval by his NBA team Golden State Warriors.
The veteran centre rates himself an unlikely chance to play at the Games after injuring his knee in game five of the the NBA Finals series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Warriors medical staff say he will need six to eight weeks to recover from the left knee bone bruises, leaving little time before Australia's first Olympic fixture on August 6.
Lemanis said the Boomers would "explore every avenue" to make sure he can get to Brazil and contribute, including limiting his time on-court but admits there are several caveats.
"A team with Andrew Bogut, you would suggest, has got a better opportunity for success than without him," he told AAP.
"But we need to keep in mind the whole preparation phase: does his skill level overcome the lack of preparation he's had with the team?
"It's not an easy question to answer.
"We need to work with the circumstances as they play out and see how late in the process it is, how confident he is on the knee, where the Golden State Warriors sit with all this and how the team perform without him."
Bogut told Lemanis he doesn't want to be the guy that "wrecks the chemistry" of the group, who played without him at 2012 London Games and 2014 World Cup but had him at last August's Oceania Olympic qualifiers.
Lemanis said there was no "like for like" replacement for the big man, whose offensive ability will arguably be missed more than his presence in defence.
If Bogut is ruled out, the likes of Cameron Bairstow, Aron Baynes, Nate Jawai and David Andersen are likely to get more minutes.
But Lemanis is keeping his options open.
"What it means for us both offensively and defensively, we need to work through that.
"This news is only 72 hours old for us, so we're talking about it as a coaching staff ahead of camp (from July 5). Whether we need to add another player to that to give us some more flexibility, we'll work through that.
"But I think we've shown along the way we've got some good versatility about us and being amorphic is something that our team hangs its hat on."
Lemanis is unsure how the uncertainty around Bogut's availability will impact the planned naming of his final 12-man Rio squad on July 11.
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