Joel Embiid unperturbed by incessant jeers from French crowd: "I'm an American"

Heading into the Olympics, Joel Embiid was expected to play for France, or so French basketball president Jean-Pierre Siutat has claimed. Several years ago, Embiid allegedly declared his intentions to play for the team in a letter while seeking citizenship. In turn, Siutat and the French basketball program worked to secure his citizenship, believing the former MVP's intentions to represent France.

Then, Embiid came out and declared that he was going to play for Team USA, initially citing the fact that his son was born in America as a key factor in his decision. Since then, he has also pointed to the tense relations between France and African countries such as his native country of Cameroon.

Despite that, there still seems to be quite a bit of resentment on the French side, with Siutat accusing him of chasing an easy medal, and fans booing Embiid in Paris.

In addition, former French player Frederic Weis, who was infamously dunked on by Vince Carter in 2000, criticized Embiid for using his status as an athlete to get French citizenship, only to change his mind when it came to representing France.

Since the Olympics started, Joel Embiid has received boos from local fans who are still bitter over his decision to play for Team USA. When asked by Brian Windhorst about his reaction to the boos, Embiid was unbothered:

"Nothing. I’m an American. I play for Team USA.”"

Looking at the reasoning behind Joel Embiid's decision to play for Team USA

As previously mentioned, France was of the mindset that Joel Embiid wanted to acquire citizenship in order to represent France. Despite that, after becoming a French citizen, he then announced in September that he had become a US citizen.

At the time, Embiid faced criticism from French fans, who weren't happy with his decision. As he explained in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, however, the decision was a tough one made with his son in mind:

“I am blessed to call Cameroon, France, and the USA home. After talking to my family, I knew it had to be Team USA. 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.”

Since then, Joel Embiid has also cited the tense relations between France and African countries, such as Cameroon, as major deciding factors in his decision to represent the United States. Given that he has family still in Cameroon, he revealed that he wants to ensure they aren't put in a bad position because of his decision.

Embiid and Team USA will play their second game of the Group Phase on Wednesday against South Sudan in a highly-anticipated rematch following a win in their opening game against Serbia over the weekend.