Another Immigrant Olympic Story: Joel Embiid

By Erik Drost - https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrost88/51913821942/, CC BY 2.0, Link

NBA player Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers) is a member of Team USA's Men's Basketball team. Embiid was born in Cameroon. He came to the United States as a teenager to pursue basketball. Embiid has been playing for the 76ers his entire, very illustrious, ten-year NBA career that began as the third pick in the 2014 NBA draft. He's been an NBA All-Star 7 times. He's twice been an NBA scoring champion (2022, 2023). And he was named the NBA Most Valuable Player in 2023.

Embiid became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2022, noting: "My son" (pictured right) "is American. I felt like, I’m living here and it’s a blessing to be an American. So I said, why not?"

When it comes to the Olympics, Embiid could have played for Cameroon, the US, or even France. He actually became a French citizen in 2022, the same year he became a U.S. citizen.

Embiid has taken some heat for playing with Team USA instead of France. He's actually being booed by Parisian fans. (How classy, or, as the French say, tres chic.)

On top of that delightful reception, Embiid hasn't gotten much play time at the Olympics. He did not play at all during the match up between USA and South Sudan. When your teammates are LeBron James, Steph Curry, Anthony Edwards--11 current All-Stars, in fact--play time can be hard to come by. USA coach Steve Kerr has said that Embiid will return to the starting lineup on Saturday's game, though, so keep an eye out for him in that game.

-KitJ