While locked into his NBA squad long-term, Joel Embiid was the hottest free agent on the international basketball market, as he had a choice to make between joining USA Basketball, France, or Cameroon ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Given the general lack of big men on the USA Basketball roster, landing Embiid was the biggest task for Grant Hill and Steve Kerr to addressing their biggest weakness, particularly since him choosing France would’ve given the French squad a truly gigantic roster the U.S. would’ve had little in the way of obvious answers for. At Sixers media day, Embiid said he was close to making his choice, noting Cameroon would be the easy selection if they were qualified for the Olympics.
On Thursday, word broke from Ramona Shelburne and Shams Charania that Embiid made his selection, choosing USA Basketball and giving them the star center they desperately wanted for the 2024 Olympics.
Joel Embiid, the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player, has committed to play for Team USA at the Paris 2024 Olympics, sources told ESPN on Thursday.
Embiid informed Team USA executive director Grant Hill of his decision on Thursday morning, sources said, just days after the two… pic.twitter.com/W2dfW71aMs
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) October 5, 2023
Embiid gave his decision to USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill in person in Fort Collins, Colorado, and now helps lead Team USA at 2024 Olympics along with expected commitments from LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, among others. https://t.co/M2T8PtM03E
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 5, 2023
With Embiid on board, the U.S. squad can look to add some of the more versatile bigs in the player pool like Draymond Green and Bam Adebayo, and if they can get commitments from those two they figure to have one of the best frontcourt rotations in the Olympics after that being one of the glaring issues at this year’s World Cup. France, meanwhile, will roll with Rudy Gobert as their starting center with Victor Wembanyama likely joining the roster for the Olympics after skipping the World Cup.
