Joel Embiid says he chose Team USA over France because ‘these guys wanted me’

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — Joel Embiid, under constant heckling from the largely French crowd at the Paris Olympics for choosing to play for Team USA instead of Les Bleus, said he picked the Americans because “these guys wanted me.”

“It was a tough decision, but it is all about comfort level, and like I said, I’ve known these guys (Team USA players) for a long time and I just felt more comfortable than on the other side (France),” Embiid said Saturday after Team USA finished off pool play at the Olympics with a 104-83 win over Puerto Rico in which there were a lot more boos cast in Embiid’s direction.

“There was some concern with the other side,” Embiid said. “Comfort level was huge. I always say I’m going to be where I’m wanted and these guys wanted me.”

Embiid has previously said publicly that he chose to play for Team USA over France — he was born in Cameroon but has passports from both countries — because his son was born in America in 2020.

More recently, Embiid has also indicated that he felt French officials put too much pressure on him to choose. Those French officials felt they had helped Embiid obtain French citizenship because he said he would play for their national team. And earlier this week, Embiid said simply, “I’m an American.”

Embiid saying he felt wanted by Team USA, but not by the French squad, is either new or rare, and it certainly can’t apply to French basketball president Jean-Pierre Siutat or general manager Boris Diaw, who helped Embiid get a French passport. Nor could it apply to the president of the actual country, Emmanuel Macron, whom Embiid said called him to try to convince him to pick France.

But what Embiid may be hinting at now is an uneasiness by the French team’s players for Embiid to join the roster, even though he was not born in nor did he ever live in France.

For example, in 2022, French center Rudy Gobert told The Athletic: “If Joel’s heart is with us and he wants to do it for the right reasons, it would be an amazing opportunity for our team.

“But I think the main thing for us, for him and for me is that I want to make sure that he does it from his heart,” Gobert said in the interview. “It has to come from him. You are either all in, or you’re not. You can’t just show up.”

Other French basketball players previously said on social media that they questioned allowing a player not born in France to join the national team. But Evan Fournier, a long-time NBA veteran and member of the French team, personally met with Embiid to try to convince him to play for Les Bleus.

As Embiid’s indecision with France stretched over two years (2022 and 2023), USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill continued to recruit Embiid and landed him on the team with a commitment in September.

Not only was Embiid the NBA MVP with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2023 and averaged 34.7 points for them last season, but also he is a 7-footer and the French have two others in their starting lineup in Gobert and Victor Wembanyama. Embiid next to them would have been a problem for any team at the Olympics, including the Americans. Instead, Embiid starts next to LeBron James and Stephen Curry.

Now, as Embiid gets heckled at the Paris Games (so far the tournament has been held in a soccer stadium, just outside of Lille, near the Belgian border), his American teammates protect him by returning the crowd’s taunts. Embiid and teammates wave at the crowd, daring them to boo even more. It happened Saturday before, during and after Embiid’s 15-point effort against Puerto Rico.

“We are all on Jo’s side,” James said. “Jo’s in great spirits, we’re all in great spirits, and as his 11 teammates, we just give him the support that he needs both on the floor and off the floor if needed.”

Team USA and France haven’t played since Embiid made his choice, but it could happen at the Olympics in either the semifinals or finals in Paris.

On Saturday, as James was offering his opinions of the other teams that advanced to the quarterfinals, he didn’t mention France.

When asked for his opinion on the host team, James said he had “been impressed” until watching France’s game Friday against Germany, won by the Germans. “I didn’t think they (were) ready for the physicality of Germany, but other than that, they’ve been playing some good ball,” James said.

After Embiid’s and James’ latest comments, one can guess the reaction to Embiid on Tuesday in Paris’ Accor Arena when the U.S. plays Brazil. And if there is a USA-France matchup, well, you get the idea.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.