Villeneuve d'Ascq, France. Joel Embiid chooses to play for USA over France in World Cup Paris OlympicsAnd the French don't let him forget that.
French fans who attended the U.S. men's national basketball team's first game at Paris 2024 on Sunday expressed strong feelings for the Philadelphia 76ers NBA star and Cameroonian.
He was greeted with boos every time he did something on the pitch, whether during pre-game introductions, coming off the bench, touching the ball, anything.
because?
It is likely to focus on his decision not to play for France, which granted him citizenship in 2022 despite him never living there.
There was some hope among French fans that he would join other NBA stars like Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert in supporting the host nation at the Paris Games.
He also had the option to play for Cameroon, but the team was quickly eliminated in the qualifiers. That left the option of the United States, the country from which he obtained his passport in 2022.
He had previously said he wanted to play for the United States because his son was born there. But he never specified why he chose the United States over France.
None of that mattered to the French fans on Sunday.