Joel Embiid will be one of the big stars of the basketball tournament at the Paris Games. Few will be able to surpass him. The center, chosen as one of the 12 members of the Dream Team, will make his debut with the U.S. national team, but some time ago he had decided to play for the hosts.

The Sixers center had the possibility of playing with three national teams: Cameroon, his native country, France and the United States, his other two nationalities. In the end, he opted for the U.S. team, with which his chances of winning gold are multiplied. Local fans will probably not forgive him for that decision.

The player obtained French nationality in 2022, but months earlier he had even written a letter to President Emmanuel Macron putting himself at the service of French basketball.

“I know your sincere interest in basketball and its development and, in general, in the sport that honors France,” begins the document made public by ‘RMC Sport’. “After discussions with the French Basketball Federation, I have already made my decision. I would like to take the steps to obtain French nationality and thus be selected by Les Blues. I do not wish to play for any other national team. I have sent a dossier to the Ministry of the Interior and Foreign Affairs,” the center confessed in his letter.

Embiid said that “it would be an immense honor to join the French team to participate in the next major international competitions, first and foremost the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. I measure the solemnity of my application, what it represents, what it means, but also, in certain aspects, its duration and its complexity with respect to the usual criteria for the granting of nationality”. Directly, the Sixers player asked Macron “for his support to support these initiatives, support without which they will not succeed. Please accept, Mr. President, the assurances of my highest consideration.”

Background, family and travel in France

The player, to put the French president on record, told him about his origins, his memories in the country, his vacations, the relatives he still has there…. His letter was successful and he was granted French nationality. The Federation was already rubbing their hands with the possibility of joining in the same team Embiid, Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert, with whom he has had numerous clashes in their duels in the NBA. Now, however, he will be one of the stars of the U.S. Dream Team. Betrayal.

“I continue to go regularly to Paris, where I wish to acquire a second permanent residence,” Embiid says in his letter. He may have to rethink buying a house in the French capital, because he will probably not be very well received.