By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Joel Embiid hails from Cameroon, but in the upcoming Olympic Games, he may compete as a member of the French national team. Per a report by French outlet RMC Sport, the NBA top scorer of the 2021-22 season has initiated administrative procedures to obtain the French nationality.
This is not a first. Four years ago, Embiid has publicly expressed his interest in the possibility of playing with France, causing a minor controversy.
At 28, the Philadelphia 76ers player may finally get the jersey of the French national team and according to the same report, a visit to France is planned by the end of June to finalize the paperwork.
FIBA regulations allow only one naturalized player per national team. The France team has never used it until now, so it would be a first. If Embiid, who has family in France, obtains his naturalization, he will be able to play with Nicolas Batum, Rudy Gobert, and Evan Fournier, even if the latter, like Tony Parker, had opposed the possibility of the French national team using a naturalized player four years ago.
At the time, the general manager of the French Basketball Federation, Patrick Beesley had declared that the addition of Embiid was possible. There had already been contacts two years earlier.
Strongly courted by Cameroon, whose jersey he has never worn in official competition, Embiid may end up creating a formidable twin tower line-up for the French national team alongside Gobert.