New Team USA coach Steve Kerr would have the idea of adding the 28-year-old pivot to the American armada and grilling the politeness of the Blues.
Nothing is going right, place your bets. If Joel Embiid did not wear the jersey of the France team this summer, it was because he was injured and did not yet have his passport. Otherwise, the 28-year-old Cameroonian pivot, naturalized at the beginning of the summer after several years of rumours, “would have liked to playat the Euro with Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier and company. This is what Boris Diaw, general manager of the France team said at the start of the rally. “When it’s fully selectable, I don’t see why I wouldn’t select it“, added Vincent Collet, the coach.
Under these conditions, we could legitimately say that the arrival of Embiid in Blue was only a matter of time, perhaps at the 2023 World Cup, probably at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Imagine this interior sector, around Embiid, Rudy Gobert, but also the 18-year-old phenomenon Victor Wembanyama, who has made a name for himself in the land of Uncle Sam in recent days. Monstrous.
Team USA/France, the match is on
The situation has since changed. And not just a little… Firstly because the 76ers player, who went to high school in Florida and university in Kansas, and whose son is American, obtained American nationality a few years ago. weeks. Clearly, he can defend the colors of his native Cameroon as well as France or Team USA. It remains to be seen whether the American selection, at the head of which we will find Steve Kerr (Golden State) for the next international deadlines after the mandate of the venerable Gregg Popovich, is in the running to attract the fivefold All Star.
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So far, no information in this direction had filtered. It’s done. According to American journalist Marc Stein, Team USA showed a “firm interestfor the best scorer of the past season (30.6 pts) and second in the votes for the title of MVP behind Nikola Jokic. Clearly, the match is launched between the two protagonists of the last Olympic final, won by Team USA, knowing that the Cameroonian selection obviously does not have the favors of Joel Embiid. However, the native of Yaoundé is careful not to give the slightest clue. Asked by AP in recent days, he has left the door open to all options:I just want to be healthy, win a championship, and then we’ll see».
I know he met some of our players to talk. I think he should play with us. But we will see. We will respect his decision, whatever it is.
Vincent Collet
Also questioned by Associated Press , during the recent American tour of “his” Metropolitans, just to put Wembanyama in the US spotlight, Vincent Collet wanted to be a philosopher. “Now he has both nationalities and he has to choose a basketball nationality, which is not the same. So it’s a choice. Nothing can be done about it“says the national coach. And to add:I know he met some of our players to talk. I think he should play with us. But we will see. We will respect his decision, whatever it is.».
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One thing is certain: the French team, bronze medalist at the 2019 World Cup, Olympic vice-champion in 2021 and again at the Euro a few weeks ago, now has two good reasons to attract Joel Embiid to his nets. The first is that the boy is a gas plant, one of the best pivots on the planet, if not the best. The second is that if he does not join the France team, it will be to strengthen the American ogre in the only position where he may seem vulnerable, or at least not as sovereign as in the others, without offending in Bam Adebayo. The stakes are therefore absolutely enormous. And Joel Embiid is the master of the game.