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Philadelphia 76ers superstar Joel Embiid could well swap out the red, white and blue of Team USA for the green and yellow of his native Cameroon at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Embiid revealed as much after he played a pivotal role in the United States’ comeback victory over Serbia in the semifinals of the Paris games on Thursday.
“It’s been a good experience. It’s been a grind, being away from home and family for a few weeks. But the group of guys we have made it easy. Paris is a great city and the next one is LA. It might not be with Team USA, it might be with Cameroon,” he told Ron Kroichick of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Embiid is playing in his first Olympic games. He was eligible to play for Cameroon, host France, as well as Team USA.
He was granted honorary citizenship by France ahead of the games despite never having lived there. But French fans have still harassed him throughout the Olympic 2024 games for refusing to play for their country.
“I want to play with my brothers in the league. I want to play for my fans because they’ve been incredible since the day I came here. But most of all, I want to honor my son who was born in the US. I want my boy to know I played my first Olympics for him,” Embiid said in a tweet announcing his intent to play for Team USA.
Cameroon failed to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games but is an emerging basketball nation. Embiid would be allowed to switch should he decide to do so. And it would be a cool opportunity to represent his home nation, especially if the USA wins gold in Paris.
But it may also be another case of trolling from, without question, the NBA’s biggest troll.