Joel Embiid has been given an ultimatum by the French Federation of Basketball to decide whether he will play for the French national team at next year’s Olympic Games.
The Philadelphia 76ers center has triple citizenship of Cameroon, his country of birth, the United States and France, with the latter two countries pushing to recruit him for their national teams.
They both suffered setbacks at the FIBA World Cup, as the United States missed out on the podium after losing to Canada in the battle for third place and France failed to prograss beyond the first round in one of the most resounding failures in the history of French basketball. Having last season’s NBA MVP would be an extraordinary signing ahead of the Olympic Games.
But the French Federation does not want the case to drag on and at the end experience what happened in the case of Paolo Banchero and Italy, where the player finally decided to play with the United States in the recent World Cup.
A delicate situation
That is why they have set a deadline for Embiid to make a decision until October 10, as Jean-Pierre Siutat, President of the Federation, noted.
“In any case, it will happen very soon,” he noted.
“We hope so and I think he knows that. We could have an answer by October 10. We have set this deadline.
“I want him to come. We are working on it, we have a strong desire to do it. He knows that. We had the opportunity to discuss it with him and we are waiting for a decision.”
Should Embiid decide to join France, he would form a fearsome duo with Victor Wembanyama, who has already made clear his desire to be at the Olympic Games, which will be played on French soil.
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