As injured 76ers star Joel Embiid continues rehabbing for a return in this year’s NBA playoffs, the MVP candidate is reportedly re-evaluating his Olympic ambitions while away from the game.
Embiid, a Cameroon native who has family in France, is considering changing his nationality in order to play for the French national team in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, per a report from French media outlet RMC Sport. The 28-year-old has never appeared in international competition.
According to FIBA, each team is allowed one naturalized player on its roster; as things currently stand, France does not have a player that meets this criteria.
If Embiid, the NBA’s reigning scoring champion, is able to obtain his naturalization, he would join a formidable roster that pushed the United States to its limit in Tokyo last summer. Headlined by Rudy Gobert, Nicolas Batum and Evan Fournier, France defeated USA during the group stage. The two teams met again in the gold medal game, and France narrowly lost 87–82.
While the French national team anxiously awaits the next steps, Embiid’s home team in the States will continue to do the same regarding a different matter following his first-round injury against the Raptors.
The 76ers, who open Round 2 on the road Monday night, hope the All-Star big man will return in either Game 3 of 4 of their series against the No. 1 seed Heat. Embiid suffered an orbital fracture and mild concussion in the closeout Game 6 versus Toronto.
