The sheer amount of absolute top-tier foreign talent in the NBA at the moment is a sight to behold. While in the past, we had maybe one or two of them around at the same time, we are now blessed with quite a few of them, with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, and Joel Embiid being the headline acts.
There is no doubt that the rest of the world is catching up with the USA in terms of talent, and while they’re not quite there yet, the gap is closing. The French beat team USA at the 2020 Olympics in the group stage before giving them a run for their money in the final, but the US did ultimately come out on top. The defeated finalists will be looking to go one better on home soil in 2024 at the Paris Olympics. If they were a tough outing before, it’s only going to get tougher with Joel Embiid becoming a French citizen.
That gives France a formidable frontcourt of all-stars Embiid and Rudy Gobert to go with young Victor Wembanyama, a generational prospect who is set to enter the NBA in 2023. The trio can cause problems to any team in front of them, including the USA, and we could be in for an exciting encounter if they do end up facing off. What eventually ended up holding France back in Tokyo was not having that reliable go-to scorer, and with Embiid, that big hole in the team can be filled. While playing with two proper bigs can be a bit problematic, Gobert, for one, is going to get plenty of practice at it, as he is set to team up with Karl-Anthony Towns for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
For ever so long, it was a foregone conclusion that the US would win it all on the international stage, but things might get a lot trickier for them in 2024.
