Olympic rosters don’t have to be submitted until next summer but Team France is hoping that the reigning Most Valuable Player will make a decision as early as next month.
Joel Embiid can choose to play for the USA, France or Cameroon. French federation president Jean-Pierre Siutat told a radio station in his home country (hat tip to Eurohoops.net) that they’d like to get an answer from Embiid by Oct. 10.
“It will happen very quickly in all cases,” Siutat said. “We hope so and I think he knows it. We may have an answer by October 10. We have set this deadline.”
The Sixers center didn’t participate in the recent FIBA World Cup and has yet to represent any country in international play, which is why he still has the option of representing any three of the nations where he has citizenship. France and the U.S. have already qualified for the Olympics, while Cameroon will compete in a qualifying tournament next summer to try to earn a spot.
We have more international basketball news:
- Former NBA forward Cameron Reynolds is close to signing with Greece’s Promitheas Patras, Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews reports. Reynolds appeared in a combined 24 NBA games with Minnesota, San Antonio and Houston, most recently during the 2020/21 season. He has also played in Italy and Montenegro.
- Former NBA center Kyle O’Quinn is signing with the Sichuan Blue Whales in China, according to Sportando. O’Quinn played in Japan last season. O’Quinn has played for Orlando, New York, Indiana and Philadelphia. His 2019/20 stint with the Sixers, in which he played 29 regular season games, was his last appearance in the NBA. He averaged 5.4 points and 4.6 rebounds in 472 career regular season contests.
- We took a deep dive into projected minimum salaries for the 2024/25 season. Get the info here.
France just wants to do a Wemby, Gobert, and Embiid lineup.
Still not good enough to medal though
What’s wrong with that.
There’s just deeper teams, with equally good or better top 3s.
Joel how long have you lived in the USA? Where do you eat. Have respect for where you live unlike everyone else
This country, the USA, wants him here just as much as he wants to be here.
Plus he is doing his part. He’s earning a nice wage yes, but he’s paying his USA income taxes, doing community work, being a good citizen, and representing his employer well.
I see no need to disparage him because he has options on the international basketball stage.
That’s just a rude sentiment, also. It’s not like people can’t have attachments or obligations to other countries and still be a US citizen. Family, culture, investments, homes, charity work… pretty much every NBA player who wants to do so can have a presence outside of the US.
Nationalism is a pretty disgusting cult in general…
jojo don’t do deadlines.
It would be kinda funny if Troel just decided “nah, I’m good” and didn’t play for anyone vying for him. I could see him doing it.