Paris (AFP)
Cameroonian basketball star Joel Embiid obtained French citizenship, according to a decree issued on the fourth of July and published in the Official Gazette, which opens the doors of the “roosters” team in light of the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
Embiid, 28, is considered one of the most prominent stars in the NBA, the Philadelphia 76ers, as he started his first steps since 2014, averaging 26 points and 11 rebounds per game.
The Philadelphia giants (2.13 m and 127 kg) finished last year as the best scorer in the regular season, with a rate of 30.6 points per game, but his level was affected in the playoffs due to injuries, so his team was eliminated from the semi-finals against Miami Heat 2-4.
The Cameroonian was injured after an elbow by fellow Toronto Raptors star Pascal Siakam in the last minutes of the sixth game of their series in the first round of the Playoffs.
The story of Embiid and the French national team goes back to an earlier period, specifically to 2016, when the National Football Association approached the Cameroonian for the first time, to return and disclose his quest after two years, which led to unfavorable reactions.
Blues general manager Boris Diaw, a former NBA player, indicated in June that Embiid’s naturalization did not guarantee him a place in the French squad.
On the day he gets it, he said, it will be another matter of picking and picking players who have the ability to withstand the French national team while maintaining the mental state of the group.
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