Melbourne United will look to bolster their line-up by signing an extra import centre for their NBA pre-season games.
The NBL champions flew out of Melbourne on Tuesday for two games against the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday at Wells Fargo centre and the Toronto Raptors in Canada on October 6 (9am AEST).
Skipper Chris Goulding, who missed last year's NBA clash with Oklahoma City Thunder due to appendicitis, made the trip this time.
United officials are hoping to secure an extra big man due to the size on the Sixers and Raptors rosters and will finalise the signing after they scouting which players have been cut from other NBA sides.
They may also look at recruiting someone they could sign as a future NBL import.
Ex-Laker Andrew Bynum, who most recently played for the Pacers, was among the players on United's radar but has knee trouble.
Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman said that veteran Emeka Okafor and former Melbourne import Hakim Warrick were also in the mix.
"We are looking at options now to assist us with Joel Embiid and some of those bigs but we will see what happens with that," Vickerman said.
"Originally Bynum was on our list but he has hurt his knee so you want to see if it could be guys you want to look at for down the track and we even considered Hakim Warrick and conversations continue there as well."
Melbourne's current import centre Josh Boone will travel with the team but is unlikely to play against Philadelphia, who have Australian NBA rookie of the year Ben Simmons and an Australian coach in Brett Brown, as he recovers from a hamstring injury.
