Australian Open organisers have just three men's singles wildcards remaining, and 40-year-old Wawrinka appears a near certainty to get one.
Wawrinka has already announced this year will be his final season on tour, and the 2014 Australian Open winner will be a hit among fans if he is handed a start at Melbourne Park.
Another guaranteed crowd puller is 2022 Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios, but the wildcard debate surrounding him is far more complicated.
Multiple wrist and knee surgeries means Kyrgios has played just seven singles tour matches over the past three years, with his ranking plummeting to 670.
The 30-year-old's most recent singles match lasted just 66 minutes - a 6-3 6-4 loss to American Aleksandar Kovacevic at the Brisbane International earlier this week.
But Kyrgios was able to team with Thanasi Kokkinakis to make it to the second round of the doubles, knocking off the highly fancied pairing of Matt Ebden and Rajeev Ram along the way.
Just last week, Kyrgios stated he would be open to slogging it out in Australian Open qualifying if he wasn't handed a wildcard, but gaining a direct entry would no doubt be his preferred option.
Kyrgios and Wawrinka have history.
In 2015, Kyrgios was fined $35,000 for his infamous "Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend" sledge during his singles match against Wawrinka, which at the time prompted the outraged Swiss to demand that the ATP take "major action against him."
But Wawrinka was full of grace on Wednesday night when asked his opinion on whether Kyrgios deserves to receive a wildcard for the Australian Open.
"He's been a lot injured the last few years, it's not easy for him," Wawrinka said after Switzerland secured a berth in the United Cup semi-finals.
"But he had amazing results in his career, made a final in a grand slam.
"So, of course, if he's fit and ready, he'll want to play there.
"And he's been playing a bit more the last few weeks, playing some exhibition matches, and playing in Brisbane now, so hopefully he can be fit without injury for the full year."
The crowd-pulling power of Kyrgios could be hard to ignore.
But Jordan Thompson, whose injury-plagued 2025 campaign saw him drop to 113th in the world, and fellow Australian Chris O'Connell (114th) would also be deserved recipients.
Wawrinka showed he has plenty of fight left in him with a gutsy three-sets win over world No.27 Arthur Rinderknech at the United Cup last weekend.
The three-time grand slam winner will be back in action alongside teammate Belinda Bencic in Sydney later this week when Switzerland take on either either Belgium or Czechia in the semi-finals of the United Cup.
Wawrinka has been in discussions with Australian Open boss Craig Tiley about a wildcard, but nothing has been locked in as yet.
"I'm super happy if I get one," Wawrinka said.
"I want to play one more time of course, my last year.
"I have amazing memories from there ... after winning my first slam there. It will be amazing.
"But I had one job to do if I wanted to play one more time. It was to be in the top 100, and I'm not.
"Next week, I'm going to play Auckland. I've got a wildcard there. So I'm happy where I am right now, and I'm not worried too much about what's going to happen in Melbourne."
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