Joel Embiid was welcomed with a chorus of boos at the French Pierre Mauroy Stadium on Wednesday. It was a familiar experience for the superstar big man but Anthony Edwards says he doesn’t understand why the fans want him there in the first place.
“I don’t know what is going on. I don’t know why he gets booed all the time,” said Anthony Edwards, via Basket News. “But you got Wemby and Rudy; why would he play with y’all? Wemby and Rudy, what more do y’all want? You want three 7-footers?”
France is currently hosting the Olympic games this year and the local fans have been going crazy for their country. With just a few games in the books for this Olympic tourney, we don’t yet know who will win but Joel Embiid has quickly become one of the biggest stories of the offseason.
The French are currently holding a grudge against Embiid over backing out of his commitment to play for Team France this summer. In preparation for this event, he was granted French citizenship and eventually applied for a French passport. By all accounts, he was ready to suit up and represent Team France this summer.. until he backed out and joined the USA instead.
Edwards, like the rest of Team USA, is no doubt happy to have Embiid on his side. As a 7x All-Star, 5x All-NBA player, and a 2x scoring champion, he’s undoubtedly one of the best players in the game and he will provide a major boost in the frontcourt for Team USA this summer.
Fans everywhere have been crushing Embiid for going back on his commitment, but they already have two top-tier bigs in Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert. Both players are over 7’0″ tall and both are among the best frontcourt players in the game
Had Embiid stayed with France, he would have been playing behind that already stacked backcourt… only to still likely lose against Team USA with LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and some of the NBA’s top players.
Clearly, Embiid felt he was better off with the USA, where he felt he was a better fit with a team that was poised to win the gold. After going 2-0 in the first two tournament games, it seems the US is on its way to another impressive summer but it remains to be seen how big of a role Embiid will play.
After scoring just 4 points against Serbia in the opener, Embiid was benched and iced out of Wednesday’s game. He got zero minutes through the entire contest and Steve Kerr tried his best to explain it to the fans.
The whole ordeal has been a bad look for Embiid and even his teammates have acknowledged it. If he ends up playing a minor role for Team USA this summer it will only further drive the narrative that he should have played for the French.
No matter how he feels now, it’s too late to go back for the big man from Cameroon. He’s hitched his wagon to the USA and, for better or worse, he’s going to be a part of this run, and probably several others, and he will make his presence known one way or the other.
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