Joel Embiid, the Philadelphia 76ers’ dominant center, left a lasting impression in his Olympic debut. With Team USA now inching closer to the final game of Paris 2024, many wonder if this will be the lone appearance for the American team by Embiid. Let’s break down the journey and what might come next.
Joel Embiid: A Major Performance
Joel Embiid has taken his fair share of criticism at the Olympics. Boy, did he ever come through the biggest of stages? The vital semifinal against Serbia was led by MVP Nikola Jokic, and Embiid was nearly phenomenal. He scored 19 points on 8-for-11 shooting, putting in a huge shift to help Team USA turn around the double-digit deficit in the elimination game. Huge in securing a place in the gold medal game.
With the Olympics wrapping up, Embiid said that he reflected on his Olympic debut. It has been a good experience. Although he enjoyed his time in Paris, he shared the difficulty of living away from home and family for weeks. The support of teammates and game adrenaline kept him going.
Potential Future Changes
Looking forward into the future, heading into the 2028 Olympics that are slated to go down in Los Angeles, Embiid remarked that this could be his last time playing with Team USA. He said that in the future, he could play with his home country of Cameroon or another team. Playing for Cameroon has been floated as a possibility and is somewhat of a controversy since he decided to play for Team USA instead.
One of the major debates surrounding Embiid is his decision to play for Team USA over Cameroon or France, where he also has citizenship. He’s faced boos from the French crowd, but he’s taken it in stride. He seemed to shut the door on the possibility of playing for another country when he signed up for the team earlier this year. Now, though, it appears that is not quite the case.
Changing national teams is not that easy. According to Joe Vardon of The Athletic, for Embiid to play for Cameroon or any other country in any other future international games, he would need waivers from both FIBA and Team USA. This makes this move very unlikely.
The Gold Medal Match
But before he starts thinking about that, Embiid will focus on claiming his first gold medal at the Olympic Games. Team USA will face off against France in the final round on Saturday to try and win their fifth straight gold. He will look to play a vital role in achieving that and leave on a high note from his first Olympic appearance.
Whether this will turn out to be Embiid’s first and last Olympics with Team USA remains to be seen. It has been a very impressive journey. For now, though, all eyes are on the final game, where Embiid hopes to wrap up his debut Olympics with a gold medal.
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