{"id":86698,"date":"2024-07-21T01:03:37","date_gmt":"2024-07-21T05:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=86698"},"modified":"2024-07-21T01:03:37","modified_gmt":"2024-07-21T05:03:37","slug":"paris-olympics-do-joel-embiid-team-usa-france-cameroon-comments-add-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/21\/paris-olympics-do-joel-embiid-team-usa-france-cameroon-comments-add-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Joel Embiid\u2019s Team USA-France-Cameroon Comments Add Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When Philadelphia 76ers big man <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/embiijo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joel Embiid<\/a> decided to join Team USA, it came as a shock. The expectation was for him to round out a star-studded French roster that included San Antonio Spurs forward-center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wembavi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Victor Wembanyama<\/a> and Minnesota Timberwolves center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/goberru01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rudy Gobert<\/a>. It was thought that France\u2019s national team would start all three of them.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">France had planned to start Victor Wembanyama at small forward alongside Joel Embiid and Rudy Gobert before Embiid joined Team USA, per <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheAthletic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheAthletic<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Imagine this frontline \ud83e\udd2f<\/p>\n<p>(Via <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/94q6lxbOID\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/94q6lxbOID<\/a>) <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/c76I1CL5f4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/c76I1CL5f4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheDunkCentral\/status\/1770473433098321943?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 20, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>However, Team USA was hoping to wash away the taste of a seventh-place 2023 FIBA World Cup finish. As a result, they were looking for as much talent as they could get.<\/p>\n<h2>Do Joel Embiid\u2019s Team USA-France-Cameroon Comments Add Up?<\/h2>\n<p>Speaking about his decision to join Team USA over France, the 2023 NBA MVP says he \u00a0\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/20\/magazine\/joel-embiid-interview.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">kind of felt rushed<\/a>\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2026I wanted to take as much time as possible and it didn\u2019t help that France put an ultimatum on when the decision had to be made,\u201d Embiid tells The New York Times\u2019 David Marchese.<\/p>\n<p>He then delves into a layered thought process that also makes note of his decision not to play for his home country. The 30-year-old was born in Yaound\u00e9, Cameroon, moving to the United States when he was 16.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI didn\u2019t know [the timeline]. I saw it on Twitter and I was like woah, where did this come from?\u2026 One thing that was always known was that Cameroon is the first choice. And if they qualify, I\u2019m playing for my home country because that\u2019s my dream to play in the Olympics. One thing that was kind of bothering me a lot was the relationship between France and Cameroon and African countries in general, historically\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cEven right now, there are a lot of things going on (in Africa), there&#8217;s a lot of pushback of basically kicking out the French because there have been so many years of oppression,\u201d Embiid says of not playing for France.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was my mindset because I knew it would be hard,\u201d he continues. \u201cWith my family being in Cameroon, I don&#8217;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.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>He\u2019s Right, You Know<\/h3>\n<p>Embiid\u2019s reasoning for playing for Team USA rather than France has plenty of merit in terms of morality.<\/p>\n<p>Like many African countries, Cameroon had to gain independence from France. This was achieved in Jan. 1960. However, France was unwilling to accept a clean break with Cameroon, even going so far as to dissolve a political party intent on economic emancipation. As a result, Cameroon had only one legal political party for the next 30 years.<\/p>\n<p>This a poor foundation for a developing country, as it breeds corruption and incompetence. That being said, this is an issue many of the African countries who were previously colonized face. In any case, though Cameroon eventually returned to multiparty politics, financial mismanagement stifled meaningful growth.<\/p>\n<p>Now, several coups have taken place in Africa\u2019s Francophone countries, leaders seeking to sever all ties with their former administrators.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, this hasn\u2019t served them well either. Not only does it add to the political instability, areas that fall under martial law often become war zones. Instead of empowering the youth and planning for sustainable success, countries like Cameroon are in turmoil. To make matters worse, the French are accused of prioritizing loyalists and attempting to destabilize governments that want to wrestle themselves from their grip.<\/p>\n<p>As Embiid says, the relationship between France and Africa isn\u2019t great, currently or historically.<\/p>\n<h3>Riddle Me This<\/h3>\n<p>Embiid still applied for French citizenship, and it was granted in the summer of 2022. He was flirting with joining France\u2019s national team up until they gave him a deadline. If France\u2019s history with Africa was so much of a factor in his decision, how did it even get to that point?<\/p>\n<p>Another question worth asking is why didn\u2019t he try to help Cameroon try to reach the Olympics?<\/p>\n<p>Indiana Pacers forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/siakapa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pascal Siakam<\/a>, New Orleans Pelicans center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/missiyv01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yves Missi<\/a>, and Toronto Raptors forward-center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/chomcul01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ulrich Chomche<\/a> were all included on <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/03\/cameroon-pre-olympic-team-gets-big-nba-boost\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">their pre-Olympic roster<\/a>. If a former MVP joined the group, their NBA-heavy frontcourt rotation could have made noise. To that point, if <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jonesca03.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carlik Jones<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/alvarjo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jose Alvarado<\/a> can lead South Sudan and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/08\/olympics-pelicans-defensive-menace-jose-alvarado-hero-puerto-rico\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Puerto Rico to the Olympics<\/a>, he should be able to.<\/p>\n<p>To be frank, it seems like Embiid <em>wasn\u2019t<\/em> all-in on playing for Cameroon. Again, his rationale for picking Team USA over France makes some sense. However, Embiid likely chose to play for USA Basketball because of the chance to join a legendary team and win a gold medal.<\/p>\n<p>After all, the U.S. doesn\u2019t have a great history with Africa either. If Embiid really shunned France because of his national pride, another country synonymous with the Transatlantic Slave Trade isn\u2019t really a better option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid decided to join Team USA, it came as a shock. The expectation was for him to round out a star-studded French roster that included San Antonio Spurs forward-center Victor Wembanyama and Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert. It was thought that France\u2019s national team would start all three of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":86731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60,1608,62,13],"tags":[267,1052,2081],"class_list":["post-86698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-olympics","category-basketball","category-nba","category-76ers","tag-joel-embiid","tag-olympics","tag-team-usa"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}