"File that should never have been opened" - Joel Embiid catches flak from French Federation President for choosing USA over France for Olympics
Joel Embiid had his choice of national teams to represent. The big man, who had yet to play international basketball at the senior level, could have chosen his home Cameroon, France or the United States. Embiid chose Team USA, and France was not happy.
Embiid was heavily recruited by USA Basketball. He became a citizen of the United States in 2022. He committed to Team USA for the Paris 2024 Olympics earlier this month.
Embiid figures to be a solid option on the U.S. roster that lacks centers. He could have also been a big part of the hometown team in France. He gained citizenship through special circumstances in 2022 as well. Now, the French federation is unhappy with Embiid’s decision.
“He had shown interest in playing for France, and we helped him get French citizenship upon his request. I'm just sorry that we have spent so much time and energy on a file that should never have been opened,” French Federation president Jean-Pierre Siutat said.
The French team was pushing for Joel Embiid to fortify its deep roster. France is gunning for gold at its home Olympics and was pulling out all of the stops to take first place.
Can France win gold without Joel Embiid?
Joel Embiid will be in a different red, white and blue at the Olympics. He chose the mighty United States instead of France. Can France still win on its home court without Embiid?
The French team beat the U.S. at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. However, the U.S. got revenge and won a battle in their second matchup in the gold medal game. France was clearly the strongest challenger to the U.S. for Olympic gold in 2021.
France has plenty of NBA talent and should be a top competitor in the Olympic tournament next summer even without Embiid. It will have plenty of depth in the front court with the twin towers of Rudy Gobert and Victor Wembanyama. It also has NBA guards in Evan Fournier and potentially Frank Ntilikina. Swingman Nicolas Batum will also be in the mix for the French squad.
France has plenty of talent to compete for gold. However, France will need to rebound after a disappointing FIBA World Cup this summer. France could not make it out of the group stage and missed the knockout round in one of the more surprising results of the tournament.
France will have much competition in a deep Olympic field. Germany and Serbia played in the World Cup final and will bring NBA talent to Paris. Slovenia, with Luka Doncic, and Greece, with Giannis Antetokounmpo, could still qualify. Team USA and Canada will have more NBA players than anyone else and already qualified as well. Australia has NBA players and is already in, too.