Watch: Joel Embiid's epic response to being booed by French crowd ahead of USA vs South Sudan
Former MVP Joel Embiid has dealt with boos throughout the Group Phase of the 2024 Paris Olympics. After previously planning to play for Les Bleus in the Olympics, Embiid wound up committing to Team USA, creating a bit of tension between he and the Parisian fans. Prior to tip-off for Wednesday's highly-anticipated rematch between USA and South Sudan, Embiid faced more boos.
While Embiid has maintained that he never formally committed to playing for France, French Basketball President Jean-Pierre Siutat has stated that the team helped Embiid acquire a French passport after the 76ers star expressed his desire to represent the country.
Allegedly, in a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, Embiid declared his intentions to secure a French passport in order to represent Les Bleus in international play.
Because of that, Embiid has been on the receiving end of both criticism and boos since arriving in Paris for the 2024 Olympics. On Wednesday, when he was showered with boos while making his way to the court, Joel Embiid decided to pump up the crowd, urging them to be louder.
This prompted U.S. fans to join in with cheers, as seen below.
Looking at the reason behind Joel Embiid's decision to play for Team USA over France
Joel Embiid earned French citizenship back in the summer of 2022, which made him eligible to represent the country on an international stage. Despite that, he then went on to become an American citizen several months later.
This put him in a position to decide which country he wanted to represent at the Olympics. As he explained, his first choice would be to represent Cameroon, however, with the country failing to qualify for the Olympics, Embiid was left with two choices, either represent France, or represent the United States.
Leading up to the Olympics, Joel Embiid then explained that in addition to wanting to represent the US for his son, the tense relations between France and African countries put him in an awkward position.
In an interview with the New York Times, the 76ers star explained:
"There's a lot of pushback as far as basically kicking out the French because it's been so many years of oppression. So that was my mind-set. I still got my family living in Cameroon, and I don't want to put them through any of that stuff.
"I want them to be safe, and the relationship between France and Cameroon or Africa in general is just not good."
In addition, Embiid also explained that he wasn't happy with the deadline France set for his decision, further pushing him to Team USA. Although the decision hasn't been well received by French fans, Embiid and Team USA are currently undefeated in the Olympics, and remain heavy betting favorites to win gold.