PARIS — The French crowd booed Joel Embiid the moment he was announced as a member of Team USA Sunday, and each time he walked onto the court or touched the ball after that.
The “why” is easy: Embiid obtained French citizenship in 2022 so that he would be eligible to play for France at the Paris Olympics, and basketball fans here knew all about it. But he’s playing for the Americans instead.
Asked before Team USA’s practice Tuesday for his reaction to the crowd’s reaction to him, he shrugged.
“Nothing. Like I said I’m an American, I play for Team USA,” Embiid said.
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Embiid, 30, the Philadelphia 76ers superstar, obtained passports from France and the U.S. within a few weeks in 2022. Born in Cameroon, Embiid moved to Florida in high school and has lived there ever since – which means he has never lived in France. He went through the naturalization process to become a U.S. citizen on his own, according to his spokesman and officials from USA Basketball.
For most of his pro career, Embiid, who has French family members, had openly entertained the idea of playing for Les Bleus internationally and expressed his interest in it in media reports years ago.
In March, The Athletic reported that French basketball officials helped him get a French passport under his direction so that he would be eligible to play not only in the Paris Games, which are ongoing, but in the FIBA World Cup last summer too.
“He said, yes, I want to (play), make the paper,” French basketball president Jean-Pierre Siutat told The Athletic earlier this year, referring to the passport. “So I make the job, with the help of the government, to get a passport for him and for his son. And all the time, he said, ‘I want to play for the national team of France.’”
Through his spokesman, Embiid denied in the March report that there was an express quid pro quo.
Embiid featured in Team USA’s opener (Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images)
Embiid ultimately chose Team USA in September, citing his son being born in the U.S. as his reason. But sources close to Embiid also said continued pressure from French officials — who in their minds were seeking for him to live up to his promise to play for France after obtaining a passport — turned him off.
In six games for Team USA, all starts, Embiid is averaging 9.7 points and 6.0 rebounds. He scored four points on 2-of-5 shooting in 11 minutes in the Americans’ 110-84 win over Serbia on Sunday, playing the day after missing practice due to an illness.
On Tuesday, Embiid said “I’m loving it” while describing his first experience playing for USA Basketball.
“This is a great setting for me because I am playing with a lot of great players,” Embiid said. “It’s all about finding ways to win — whatever I can do.”
The Americans play South Sudan at 3 p.m. eastern Wednesday in game two of pool play for both teams.
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(Top photo: Catherine Steenkeste / Getty Images)