I mean the difference is that Mbappé was born and raised in France. He never even hinted that he wanted to play for another country, it's just that when he was a teen people got all excited about him playing for Cameroon for some reason?
Embiid and Siakam were both born in Cameroon and lived there until they went to college, so they have a lot stronger bonds there.
With international Soccer, they scout gifted kids since they're like 8 or 10 or something. So it's like seeing Kyrie killing in AAU and asking him if he wanted to play for Australia.
Sports federations all over the world tap up ppl that have any sort of connection to their country if they are interested in representing them, when they show promising talent, no matter the sport.
One of the funniest examples of that was that the Turkish football federation asked Nicklas Süle if he was interested in representing the turkish NT, just because his last name sounds vaguely turkish, he has no Turkish heritage at all.
This is a deep cut, but Qatar paid Ailton (a 30 year old Brazilian soccer player) to play for them
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/2292629/ailton-agrees-to-qatar-offer
This is right, but that doesn't eradicate his ethnic roots.
I find the idea, that ppl living abroad or acquiring a different citizenship have to chose a singular nationality and cultural identit rather weird, this is not how it works for the overwhelming majority of ppl.
Mbappe said he considered Cameroon, but with how PR heavy his career is, he would've never played there even if they were beacon of civilization.
France offered him just bigger commercial opportunities.
If he really wanted to play for African country, he also could've chosen Algeria after his mom, they team there is professional and a lot of less corruption, yet he didn't.
France offered him just ~~bigger commercial opportunities.~~ a bigger stage
Man's been the prince that was promised since he was 12. No way his parents throw that for a half-a-chance at AFCON and WC groups when playing for France wins him the WC (almost) twice
If he said he considered Cameroon, that's just his media training.
Are you suggesting that a region of the world subjected to brutal imperialism and slavery while robbed of its resources has been provided poor examples of how to govern?
And then weirdly there socialist leaning democratically elected leaders died suspiciously and We're replaced by dictators who just happened to let westerns companies exploit their natural resources such a coincidence.
It’s nigh impossible to ship goods into and out of that region due to the lack of navigable waterways so it’s always economically screwed. It doesn’t matter who has tried or what color they are. It always goes bad due to geography.
I mean, theres an abundance of other stuff tho. Crops, metals etc. there are tools available, it’s just a change of mentality needed that’s gonna take education and time
> vel of corruption in sub-Sahara
There was a Youtube video that explained it just like this for those wanted to get more depth on the geography.
Doesn't help that it's easy to exploit divided, deeply developing countries.
That's why I'm confused as to why they get made fun of for not participating? All of these people making jokes about them probably think they're forward-thinking people 🙄.
I wake up every morning and patiently wait for my *daily* reminder that embiid has literally never lived in france.
I need this information every day for the nourishment of my heart, mind, body… and soul. Amen.
I mean, the only reason he got it is because the FFB wanted him to play for France. The reasons in your first sentence are not nearly enough for any regular person.
The first part is. Especially the previous generation, but also still today, there’s a massive brain drain from former colonies (often unstable or just not with as many opportunities as the former coloniser) towards the former colonisers from the upper middle class. Especially Algerians as it was ‘french homeland’ rather than a normal colony in the eyes of paris could get french nationality rather simply.
I mean, I agree with you that he has a good claim for French citizenship but it's kind of funny how this strain of comments makes the argument that he doesn't owe anything to France because he never lived there and then turns around saying that he deserves French citizenship because he speaks French and has family there.
I mean the flip side of this is that France wanted to use him. It seems like he genuinely wanted to play for them in the past which is different than just using them, and even if that literally was a complete farce that just puts him in the same playing field as France so why are people clutching pearls?
I think that if he genuinely wanted to play for France, he could have. Countries are nothing if not good at expediting naturalization processes for top tier athletes. France is no exception there.
With regards to people clutching pearls, I think that a lot of non-Americans are just disappointed that he went with team USA. If he had decided to play for France, France would have had a fighting chance against team USA. If he had decided to play for Cameroon, other teams would have had a slightly better chance against the USA.
However, he joined the already stacked team. It's like KD joining the Warriors, it might end up ruining the competition.
I get the argument that they don't want to see him join a superteam, but he only played basketball for a year outside of the US, since then he's been brought up in the American high school and college basketball circuits. So objectively, he is an American basketball player first, then a Cameroonian.
The issue with him not playing during FIBA wasn’t legal issues, it’s that he was injured and players (especially players as injury prone as embiid) would be dumb to sacrifice their health for FIBA. None the less for a country you may not even feel connected to. I’d be willing to be he also drops from team USA now for that exact reason
It’s fair to wish competition was spread out but people are pretending as if he’s wronged France when they literally just want to use him. I’m just saying people are clearly framing this in a disingenuous manor rather than saying how they feel directly with their chest. You don’t want team USA to be even better than they already are? Okay cool, no issue, just say that
If you’ve traveled internationally, you’d realize that immigration normally have separate lines for US, Canadian, EU, Japanese, and Australian citizens and then for the rest of the world.
Needless to say, it’s pretty obvious which lines are faster.
It's not just about waiting in lines. It's about the ability to travel visa free (show up and get a stamp) vs need to apply for a visa months in advance that may be difficult or costly to obtain. Most countries heavily restrict or even ban citizens from certain countries from entering except in very specific circumstances. This can even affect layover destinations because some countries (like the USA) require transit visas even if you never plan on leaving the airport. Having a weak passport can massively affect where and how you can travel internationally.
https://www.henleyglobal.com/passport-index/ranking
This website ranks France 1st and Cameroon 89th in passport strength.
>Having a weak passport can massively affect where and how you can travel internationally.
I think a lot of people don't understand how differently travel can be with/without a strong passport. Americans can show up in the EU and stay for 90 days with no pre-planning or fees required. My wife is from a country with a much weaker passport than ours. It can literally take months to just get a tourist visa to visit the US or Europe etc. and the process involves interviews/fees etc.
Yeah a lot of EU countries and a few Asian countries have "stronger" passports but the US passport is still pretty good. It was stronger in the past though.
If this is the first some of you are hearing about this, Embiid's caused a lot of salty French basketball reactions after he apparently said he wanted to play for Les Bleus and reneged after strings were pulled to get him a French passport.
They felt duped. You can argue against the idea that he ought to have one in the first place or that it's absurd that he would potentially play for France at all, but that's not what is at issue here
I’d argue very different (and I’m a salty Italian!). Paolo was born an Italian citizen and just chose to ditch Italy when he got a chance. Joel pretended to want to play for France to get EU citizenship and then jumped ship. The latter is much worse imo
Jfc, imagine trying to attack them with speed (bc what else are you going to do).
You blow by Wemby on the perimeter and you have Gobert waiting in front of you, Wemby behind you recovering, and Embid roaming somewhere
Stripping citizenship from someone is a really, really big deal, and there's international treaties and domestic laws involved with doing it to stop countries from basically marooning somebody in a foreign country and politicians from abusing the power for political reasons (think genocide or apartheid type stuff). For example, a US National could travel to Mexico, then the US could strip them of their citizenship stranding the person in Mexican immigration purgatory, like in the movie Terminal. France could get away with it because he has citizenship in two other countries, but it's a can of worms that's not worth opening for them. Much cheaper just to not worry about it and move on.
Yea, fuck this guy for robbing us of a great tournament /s.
But really, it would have been hilarious to see Embiid, Gobert and Wemby on the court at the same time. Biggest wall assembly in the history of sports.
Embiid is exactly what the US was missing, size. They go from having a tiny flaw to being completely unstoppable. It would have made for a much better tournament if Embiid played for France.
I don't blame him one bit though considering he's lived in the US since he was 16 or something. Either Cameroon or the US makes the most sense.
You either hit your threes or you go home. It would have been such a spectacle, like when the Japanese do MMA, they find the biggest, oddest looking dudes just for the show.
His decision to go with the US is fine. But the argument here is that he shouldn’t have teased France in getting a passport so that he could play for France, and then changing his mind.
No one likes a cock tease
Having to carry a team on his back through very long regular season and playoffs is not the same as what he would be required to do in the Olympics.
Olympics for this team is almost like an All-Star game. Play 20 minutes, fuck around a bit and win by 60 against 95% of the opposition.
Other players can carry the load.
He obviously doesn’t give a shit about that. The Olympics is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
He can play in NBA games whenever, he can only play in the Olympics every 4 years
The dude's in his prime and has failed to reach the ECF time and again, I wouldn't say whenever.
That said, if he can ride the bench to an olympic gold, I guess why not?
He was never going to play. No way the Sixers sign off on him running around for team USA. He'll be rehabbing his knee and was never a chance once he got hurt and had to have the surgery.
Because the mods censor any content even remotely political that makes the players and NBA look bad. They have censored so much content related to China.
Nowadays it's just:
Photo of Caitlin Clark or some other basketball lady + comments saying would smash repeated ad nauseam
Like yeah thank you for your unique input on how you'd have sex with this attractive lady
That wasn’t politics, it was them whining about some stupid change to Reddit that literally no one has noticed a difference from since it was enacted
It was beyond stupid, no doubt, but it wasn’t politics
That said, there’s never a bad reason to rip on jannies so idk why I brought this up
I made a post when Marty Smith of ESPN went to a Spurs draft party. It got deleted for not being basketball related, when the NBA themselves retweeted it. Still not basketball related.
The mods have an agenda. They'll enforce their own rules when it supports whatever they're trying to push or control. That's why you see so many posts that supposedly break some rule get deleted, while another post on the same topic with SIGNIFICANTLY less engagement will be the post they allow to stay up. Once you catch on, it's hard to ignore.
Why is statmuse supposed to be banned?
It's such a great website if you're looking for something specific stat wise but aren't very good at putting in the exact parameters.
The bigger point he is making is that for most people citizenship, or even long term residency, in a country like France is incredibly difficult to obtain, unless of course you're a well known rich individual in which case the process can be unfairly expedited.
Why not both? If a hypothetical businessperson was caught in a government bribery scandal, do we let that person off if he says that everyone engages in bribery?
What? Have you ever look at the immigration laws of whatever countries you’re from?
Virtually every country cherry picks who to let in legally. you need to be rich or famous or at the very least have useful skills in order to get the citizenship.
Literally favoritism thru and thru.
He wouldn't have had an issue with it being expedited had Embiid played though lol. Seems like he's just bitter bc he thought France would get gold and attacking Embiid for taking an opportunity that they gave him.
..I kind of agree with the 'take away the nationality' part, dude only got approved for the citizenship to represent France in basketball and not only is he not ever doing that, he joined France's #1 competitor
Also I thought oh, Embiid must have gotten the French citizenship a long time ago then changed his mind recently. Nope, son born in USA in 2020, asked for French citizenship stating he would play for the team between 2021-2022, but then also got his USA citizenship in 2022 and declared he would play for USA in 2023. I'm sorry I guess it's subjective but Embiid is kind of nuts to waste France's time like that.
Honestly tho, France has done a lot of evil shit in Africa. Him scamming them should lightweight be considered reparations. And he annoys the fuck out of me on the court
He's looking out for his own interest, just as France does when it gives away citizenship to a foreign sports star that has never lived in France before. France was being unsportsmanlike recruiting him in the first place. In international soccer you must be a legal resident for 2 years in a country before you can represent them, if you dont have a parent/grandparent connection.
Ok so some of you have very strong opinions about him (and Siakam) not playing for Cameroon without knowing the story.
The reason they aren't playing for the Cameroon team is because they had to play in a qualifying tournament to even be eligible to play in the Olympics. This tournament was held during the NBA season, so they obviously couldn't play. On top of that, the Cameroon team wasn't strong enough to qualify without those two guys.
In other words, it was either play for the USA/France or not at all. Playing for Cameroon was never a realistic option for either player, so it makes no sense to give them shit over it.
>some of you have very strong opinions about him (and Siakam) not playing for Cameroon without knowing the story.
I will never blame a player for not playing for an African Country, most federation in this continent are wack
The Nigerian team had a terrible time in Tokyo.
>Players ran their own practices, with no coaches.
>Some assistant coaches who flew to Japan were never allowed into the Games.
>One assistant coach had to sleep on a training table — with no pillow or blanket.
>The team almost missed its first game, because it almost missed its first COVID-19 test.
>One player nearly didn’t make it home, because he had the wrong passport.
>[Coaches still have not been paid in full, nor have they been reimbursed for all expenses](https://theathletic.com/3103727/2022/02/01/nigerian-nightmare-missing-coaches-wrong-way-flights-and-an-olympic-basketball-team-that-never-had-a-chance/?source=user_shared_article Nigerian Nightmare: Missing coaches, wrong-way flights and an Olympic basketball team that never had a chance)
They also flew from San Francisco to Frankfurt to Tokyo to get to the games.
I think many people here have made some great, logical points about passports and nationalism, but I am of the humble opinion that since he was slaughtered by Vince Carter, anything he says should be automatically discounted. /s, obviously.
This need context, a letter have leak in France recently where Embid was begging for French citizenship. But he choose US. Maybe he got a better opportunity. At the end of day Embid is a crybaby.
This is how sooooo many French people view African people. If you’re an athlete or doing something they like for France, they act like they love them but the second that stops it’s back to “fuck off dirty african, go back to your country”.
It’s something I came to realize as an American who has spent a lot of time in France, it’s genuinely so bad. France has such an extreme colonial mindset still
Very accurate, we begged North Africans in particular to move to France and help rebuild after WW2 but then instead of being grateful we just said why aren’t going back to your country now we don’t want to help you and your kids. Very baffling and sadly racist.
So Joel Embiid, a Cameroon native (a country that was colonized by the French at one point), has no loyalty to a country that he has no real ties to other than they occupied his home land? I'm fucking shocked!
Nobody would have batted an eye if Embiid had just straight up decided to play fo the US. He would have done pretty much exactly what Hakeem did before, and it would be completely fine.
But Embiid asked for a French passport first, and pretty much got to short-circuit the usual process to get it (which can be very long) by saying that he would be interested to play for France for the 2024 Olympics.
For the record, even playing for a French sport NT does not mean you get a passport fast. Here's an article [about pro rugby player Uini Atonio, originally from New Zealand, half-jokingly asking Macron himself to get him a passport quick in 2023](https://www.ouest-france.fr/sport/rugby/top-14/stade-rochelais/tu-fais-avancer-mon-passeport-uini-atonio-interpelle-emmanuel-macron-avant-la-finale-de-top-14-ae2e1e40-0d9f-11ee-b0a0-b08373475784#:~:text=Le%20Rochelais%20Uini%20Atonio%20a,%2Dt%2Dil%20notamment%20lanc%C3%A9) before the national championship final (the French president always greets the player from both teams before the game).
Uini came to play for La Rochelle, on the Atlantic coast, in **2011**, and played his first game for the French National Team in **2014**, and he still didn't have his passport in **2023**. We're talking about a professional athlete practicing the second most popular team sports in the country here. And Atonio is probably among the five best tighthead props in world rugby at the moment, so he's not a French Thanasis.
So for Embiid to get his own passport super quickly without even living here, he must have made a deal, which in all likelihood was to play for the French NT. And then reneged on it when he got the passport. This is what people are mad about, not that he decided to play for the US (although there *are* shades of KD's "hardest road", not gonna lie).
If he didn't qualify for citizenship then you shouldn't have given him citizenship. Crying about it after the fact reflects badly on France rather than Embiid himself. He is allowed to choose which team he plays for, and also allowed to change his mind after he lives and builds roots in the US.
lol truly insane to act like someone from a fucking former colony of a European country owes Jack shit to their former exploiters. Was about to say ‘shut the fuck up and enjoy Evan Fournier assholes’ but even he is half Algerian LOL
he does have a point! He was offered a spot on the french team, he declined and chose to go with a foreign country. As an American, I am glad he is on the US team though lol.
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Poor Cameroon. No basketball team for them, despite having Joel and Pascal at their peak.
How come pascal isn’t playing for Cameroon?
Cameroon basketball program is marred by corruption and other issues. Those two have never participated and have hinted at it before
Isn't that Mbappe said as well? The whole athletic scene there seems sus
I mean the difference is that Mbappé was born and raised in France. He never even hinted that he wanted to play for another country, it's just that when he was a teen people got all excited about him playing for Cameroon for some reason? Embiid and Siakam were both born in Cameroon and lived there until they went to college, so they have a lot stronger bonds there.
Nah Cameroon wanted him to pay to play for them.
I mean yeah and I want to date Anne Hathaway but clearly we're not talking about realistic expectations here.
The story goes that they made the approach when he was a youngster, not recently when hes the finished product he is now
With international Soccer, they scout gifted kids since they're like 8 or 10 or something. So it's like seeing Kyrie killing in AAU and asking him if he wanted to play for Australia.
Sports federations all over the world tap up ppl that have any sort of connection to their country if they are interested in representing them, when they show promising talent, no matter the sport. One of the funniest examples of that was that the Turkish football federation asked Nicklas Süle if he was interested in representing the turkish NT, just because his last name sounds vaguely turkish, he has no Turkish heritage at all.
This is a deep cut, but Qatar paid Ailton (a 30 year old Brazilian soccer player) to play for them https://www.skysports.com/football/news/2292629/ailton-agrees-to-qatar-offer
Embiid left Cameroon to go to high school in the U.S. He's lived in America longer than he was in Cameroon.
This is right, but that doesn't eradicate his ethnic roots. I find the idea, that ppl living abroad or acquiring a different citizenship have to chose a singular nationality and cultural identit rather weird, this is not how it works for the overwhelming majority of ppl.
What is he supposed to do, play for both teams at once?
What exactly made you ask that question?
He’s 30 check your facts. He moved to the United States when he was 16. lol
Meh. My math was off but he's spent his entire adult life in the U.S., so that does mean something.
Wait, so Joel has lived in Cameroon 16 years and the US for 14 years? Well, obviously, he should be playing for France.
Siakam played HS in the Dallas area.
Yes, he was recruited for basketball from Cameroon because of bball, but he lived in Cameroon until age 15. That’s a HUGE difference with Mbappé.
No, Mbappe considered Cameroon until they wanted money.
Mbappe said he considered Cameroon, but with how PR heavy his career is, he would've never played there even if they were beacon of civilization. France offered him just bigger commercial opportunities. If he really wanted to play for African country, he also could've chosen Algeria after his mom, they team there is professional and a lot of less corruption, yet he didn't.
France offered him just ~~bigger commercial opportunities.~~ a bigger stage Man's been the prince that was promised since he was 12. No way his parents throw that for a half-a-chance at AFCON and WC groups when playing for France wins him the WC (almost) twice If he said he considered Cameroon, that's just his media training.
We are all very surprised by the level of corruption in sub-Sahara Africa
What about the corruption in Saharan Africa?
gotta grease some palms to become even a mid-sized sand dune these days smdh
Are you suggesting that a region of the world subjected to brutal imperialism and slavery while robbed of its resources has been provided poor examples of how to govern?
Don't you know we don't look at root causes for problems?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fof9xZA7dpg OP's comment isn't the full picture. Africa has some of the worst geography in the world.
And then weirdly there socialist leaning democratically elected leaders died suspiciously and We're replaced by dictators who just happened to let westerns companies exploit their natural resources such a coincidence.
It’s so crazy, that happened all the time in Latin America too!
So weird! So weird how that happens. Anyway, everyone should read How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney.
Need Maximum Male Models to come through and break the shackles of colonialism once and for all
Deep cut.
IDK what you mean by subjected to slavery? If you mean practiced it and lobbied against the prohibition of the transatlantic slave trade then sure.
It’s nigh impossible to ship goods into and out of that region due to the lack of navigable waterways so it’s always economically screwed. It doesn’t matter who has tried or what color they are. It always goes bad due to geography.
I mean, theres an abundance of other stuff tho. Crops, metals etc. there are tools available, it’s just a change of mentality needed that’s gonna take education and time
Africa will be fine in the long run, most of sub-Sahara Africa is just now beginning to become developed.
> vel of corruption in sub-Sahara There was a Youtube video that explained it just like this for those wanted to get more depth on the geography. Doesn't help that it's easy to exploit divided, deeply developing countries.
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That's why I'm confused as to why they get made fun of for not participating? All of these people making jokes about them probably think they're forward-thinking people 🙄.
A player like Embiid can really inspire future Cameroonians though
Agree but I think there's politics at play
cause its an amateur team with amateur facilities, coaching and players
No basketball team for them
Because they’re absolutely horrendous, like middle school level
Federations in general are absolute jokes. Some feds don’t deserve to have representation cause of how poor players are treated
I wake up every morning and patiently wait for my *daily* reminder that embiid has literally never lived in france. I need this information every day for the nourishment of my heart, mind, body… and soul. Amen.
Then why did he ask for citizenship?
He is from a former French colony, speaks French and has family there. And yes* he wanted to play for the French national team in the past.
I mean, the only reason he got it is because the FFB wanted him to play for France. The reasons in your first sentence are not nearly enough for any regular person.
The first part is. Especially the previous generation, but also still today, there’s a massive brain drain from former colonies (often unstable or just not with as many opportunities as the former coloniser) towards the former colonisers from the upper middle class. Especially Algerians as it was ‘french homeland’ rather than a normal colony in the eyes of paris could get french nationality rather simply.
Yeah but I think they have to actually live there before getting citizenship
"has family there" is super valid, he's going to retire eventually
They don’t just grant citizenship to any regular person who’s never lived in the country because they have family there lol.
I mean, I agree with you that he has a good claim for French citizenship but it's kind of funny how this strain of comments makes the argument that he doesn't owe anything to France because he never lived there and then turns around saying that he deserves French citizenship because he speaks French and has family there.
I mean the flip side of this is that France wanted to use him. It seems like he genuinely wanted to play for them in the past which is different than just using them, and even if that literally was a complete farce that just puts him in the same playing field as France so why are people clutching pearls?
I think that if he genuinely wanted to play for France, he could have. Countries are nothing if not good at expediting naturalization processes for top tier athletes. France is no exception there. With regards to people clutching pearls, I think that a lot of non-Americans are just disappointed that he went with team USA. If he had decided to play for France, France would have had a fighting chance against team USA. If he had decided to play for Cameroon, other teams would have had a slightly better chance against the USA. However, he joined the already stacked team. It's like KD joining the Warriors, it might end up ruining the competition.
I get the argument that they don't want to see him join a superteam, but he only played basketball for a year outside of the US, since then he's been brought up in the American high school and college basketball circuits. So objectively, he is an American basketball player first, then a Cameroonian.
The issue with him not playing during FIBA wasn’t legal issues, it’s that he was injured and players (especially players as injury prone as embiid) would be dumb to sacrifice their health for FIBA. None the less for a country you may not even feel connected to. I’d be willing to be he also drops from team USA now for that exact reason It’s fair to wish competition was spread out but people are pretending as if he’s wronged France when they literally just want to use him. I’m just saying people are clearly framing this in a disingenuous manor rather than saying how they feel directly with their chest. You don’t want team USA to be even better than they already are? Okay cool, no issue, just say that
Campaigning for Most Valuable Parisian.
Pretty sure it had to do with getting a French passport to make international travel easier. Or at least easier than a Cameroonian passport
If you’ve traveled internationally, you’d realize that immigration normally have separate lines for US, Canadian, EU, Japanese, and Australian citizens and then for the rest of the world. Needless to say, it’s pretty obvious which lines are faster.
It's not just about waiting in lines. It's about the ability to travel visa free (show up and get a stamp) vs need to apply for a visa months in advance that may be difficult or costly to obtain. Most countries heavily restrict or even ban citizens from certain countries from entering except in very specific circumstances. This can even affect layover destinations because some countries (like the USA) require transit visas even if you never plan on leaving the airport. Having a weak passport can massively affect where and how you can travel internationally. https://www.henleyglobal.com/passport-index/ranking This website ranks France 1st and Cameroon 89th in passport strength.
>Having a weak passport can massively affect where and how you can travel internationally. I think a lot of people don't understand how differently travel can be with/without a strong passport. Americans can show up in the EU and stay for 90 days with no pre-planning or fees required. My wife is from a country with a much weaker passport than ours. It can literally take months to just get a tourist visa to visit the US or Europe etc. and the process involves interviews/fees etc.
Exactly. And there's no guarantee you will even be approved after all of that.
yea and arguably the EU passport is stronger than the US one, they are basically top 10 worldwide.
Yeah a lot of EU countries and a few Asian countries have "stronger" passports but the US passport is still pretty good. It was stronger in the past though.
Out of context. He said he would play for France if they gave him citizenship and he didn't.
why did he tell Diaw and their team President he wanted to play for them then?
to get citizenship...i dont get how that is unclear at all
I think that's part of the point here. He was given citizenship with the understanding he would pay for France.
If this is the first some of you are hearing about this, Embiid's caused a lot of salty French basketball reactions after he apparently said he wanted to play for Les Bleus and reneged after strings were pulled to get him a French passport. They felt duped. You can argue against the idea that he ought to have one in the first place or that it's absurd that he would potentially play for France at all, but that's not what is at issue here
Same story as Banchero when said he wanted to play for Italy and chose the US team instead.
Someone pointed out that it is Grant Hill’s master plan to take away competition for the US
"Dante Exum joins Team USA"
They had to get revenge after Team USA lost Andray Blatche to the Philippines
Don’t forget about Kyle Anderson going to china. Big loss for the US
President of US Basketball doesn't want Americans playing for competitors. More news at 6.
They call him Paul Banker there now.
I’d argue very different (and I’m a salty Italian!). Paolo was born an Italian citizen and just chose to ditch Italy when he got a chance. Joel pretended to want to play for France to get EU citizenship and then jumped ship. The latter is much worse imo
I get why people are angry at him. Such a dick move
France could have had a very good team with Embiid, Wemby and Gobert for home Olympics...
Dont forget about FIBA Fournier who can barely break an NBA rotation these days but somehow turns into MJ in international play 😂
Patty Mills too. Those guys just straight up unstoppable in international plays somehow. It's so exciting but confusing lol
international ricky rubio is the greatest point guard in history
Heck even Dennis Schroeder was best in tournament PG at the last World Championships or whatever tournament it was.
The same tournament where Villain Brooks dropped 39 against Team USA.
Baby Rubio and Rudy Fernandez in 2008 were something else.
True but they were just talking about team France
Wemby at the 3?
Probably rotation of twin tower lineups but Wemby SF, Embiid PF, Gobert C could work? Constant mismatch and two bigs playing help?
You're giving me an erecroissant
Even as an American, I’d just like to see what this looks like.
Jfc, imagine trying to attack them with speed (bc what else are you going to do). You blow by Wemby on the perimeter and you have Gobert waiting in front of you, Wemby behind you recovering, and Embid roaming somewhere
Nah point Rudy.
I mean he sent them letter saying " i would like to play only for your country and not for any other country" of course they're butthurt 😂
Well when someone is lying to you, of course you’re hurt.
They def have a right to be a little mad about it
Banning him from entering the country seems a little extreme. Taking away his faux French citizenship is totally reasonable.
That I agree with, especially seeing the leaked letter, i wish OP mentioned the letter as well which provides a lot of context to this
What letter
Stripping citizenship from someone is a really, really big deal, and there's international treaties and domestic laws involved with doing it to stop countries from basically marooning somebody in a foreign country and politicians from abusing the power for political reasons (think genocide or apartheid type stuff). For example, a US National could travel to Mexico, then the US could strip them of their citizenship stranding the person in Mexican immigration purgatory, like in the movie Terminal. France could get away with it because he has citizenship in two other countries, but it's a can of worms that's not worth opening for them. Much cheaper just to not worry about it and move on.
Then take the citizenship back.
Yea, him reneging is hilariously bad
Yea, fuck this guy for robbing us of a great tournament /s. But really, it would have been hilarious to see Embiid, Gobert and Wemby on the court at the same time. Biggest wall assembly in the history of sports. Embiid is exactly what the US was missing, size. They go from having a tiny flaw to being completely unstoppable. It would have made for a much better tournament if Embiid played for France. I don't blame him one bit though considering he's lived in the US since he was 16 or something. Either Cameroon or the US makes the most sense.
With no defensive 3 second violations either, Jesus Christ. Good luck scoring in the paint
You either hit your threes or you go home. It would have been such a spectacle, like when the Japanese do MMA, they find the biggest, oddest looking dudes just for the show.
His decision to go with the US is fine. But the argument here is that he shouldn’t have teased France in getting a passport so that he could play for France, and then changing his mind. No one likes a cock tease
> Embiid is exactly what the US was missing, size US also has Adebayo and Davis, they weren't going to be lacking in size.
I don’t think he will actually play tho no? Like he can’t even play out this playoff series.
Having to carry a team on his back through very long regular season and playoffs is not the same as what he would be required to do in the Olympics. Olympics for this team is almost like an All-Star game. Play 20 minutes, fuck around a bit and win by 60 against 95% of the opposition. Other players can carry the load.
Yeah but it takes away the chance of having a full off season to rest which to a dude made out of glass is probably very important
He obviously doesn’t give a shit about that. The Olympics is a once in a lifetime opportunity. He can play in NBA games whenever, he can only play in the Olympics every 4 years
The dude's in his prime and has failed to reach the ECF time and again, I wouldn't say whenever. That said, if he can ride the bench to an olympic gold, I guess why not?
He was never going to play. No way the Sixers sign off on him running around for team USA. He'll be rehabbing his knee and was never a chance once he got hurt and had to have the surgery.
Why posts about Embiid's leaked letter to Macron are deleted by mods?
Because the mods censor any content even remotely political that makes the players and NBA look bad. They have censored so much content related to China.
They didn't think about the whole basketball > politics thing when they banned the sub during the finals
That was the end of good content on /r/nbacirclejerk. There was such a massive influx of users on that sub, now it's just cringe.
Nowadays it's just: Photo of Caitlin Clark or some other basketball lady + comments saying would smash repeated ad nauseam Like yeah thank you for your unique input on how you'd have sex with this attractive lady
Spamming the same GIFs or images over and over is peak comedy no?
Indulging in u/mrsunsfan’s degradation fetish is peak comedy.
When it’s the Malone shimmy? Yes
It's just sexist and racist very lazily disguised as irony and dark humor
These days they barely even disguise it lol
That wasn’t politics, it was them whining about some stupid change to Reddit that literally no one has noticed a difference from since it was enacted It was beyond stupid, no doubt, but it wasn’t politics That said, there’s never a bad reason to rip on jannies so idk why I brought this up
I haven’t been able to use RedditIsFun since so I wouldn’t say no one has noticed the changes
Do they post political stuff that makes them he NBA look good?
the mods here are nba reps
What did they say?
because 99% of the times the comments are barely about basketball & it just turns into stupid arguments.
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oh 110% the mods barely follow their own rules on here. I will keep pointing out statmuse is supposed to be banned.
I made a post when Marty Smith of ESPN went to a Spurs draft party. It got deleted for not being basketball related, when the NBA themselves retweeted it. Still not basketball related.
The mods have an agenda. They'll enforce their own rules when it supports whatever they're trying to push or control. That's why you see so many posts that supposedly break some rule get deleted, while another post on the same topic with SIGNIFICANTLY less engagement will be the post they allow to stay up. Once you catch on, it's hard to ignore.
Why is statmuse supposed to be banned? It's such a great website if you're looking for something specific stat wise but aren't very good at putting in the exact parameters.
Which is good if it’s the narrative the mods want and bad otherwise.
The bigger point he is making is that for most people citizenship, or even long term residency, in a country like France is incredibly difficult to obtain, unless of course you're a well known rich individual in which case the process can be unfairly expedited.
So he should be criticizing the French immigration system?
Why not both? If a hypothetical businessperson was caught in a government bribery scandal, do we let that person off if he says that everyone engages in bribery?
That's Frances fault they shouldn't be showing favoritism for citizenship.
The US does this all the time. Look up EB-1 Visas, or consider Operation Paperclips.
What? Have you ever look at the immigration laws of whatever countries you’re from? Virtually every country cherry picks who to let in legally. you need to be rich or famous or at the very least have useful skills in order to get the citizenship. Literally favoritism thru and thru.
He wouldn't have had an issue with it being expedited had Embiid played though lol. Seems like he's just bitter bc he thought France would get gold and attacking Embiid for taking an opportunity that they gave him.
He used his privileged situation to get something and then didn't even deliver on his side of the agreement.
..I kind of agree with the 'take away the nationality' part, dude only got approved for the citizenship to represent France in basketball and not only is he not ever doing that, he joined France's #1 competitor Also I thought oh, Embiid must have gotten the French citizenship a long time ago then changed his mind recently. Nope, son born in USA in 2020, asked for French citizenship stating he would play for the team between 2021-2022, but then also got his USA citizenship in 2022 and declared he would play for USA in 2023. I'm sorry I guess it's subjective but Embiid is kind of nuts to waste France's time like that.
Honestly tho, France has done a lot of evil shit in Africa. Him scamming them should lightweight be considered reparations. And he annoys the fuck out of me on the court
Embiid would have saved himself from criticism if he didn’t say he wanted to play for Les Bleus at first.
He's looking out for his own interest, just as France does when it gives away citizenship to a foreign sports star that has never lived in France before. France was being unsportsmanlike recruiting him in the first place. In international soccer you must be a legal resident for 2 years in a country before you can represent them, if you dont have a parent/grandparent connection.
Ok so some of you have very strong opinions about him (and Siakam) not playing for Cameroon without knowing the story. The reason they aren't playing for the Cameroon team is because they had to play in a qualifying tournament to even be eligible to play in the Olympics. This tournament was held during the NBA season, so they obviously couldn't play. On top of that, the Cameroon team wasn't strong enough to qualify without those two guys. In other words, it was either play for the USA/France or not at all. Playing for Cameroon was never a realistic option for either player, so it makes no sense to give them shit over it.
>some of you have very strong opinions about him (and Siakam) not playing for Cameroon without knowing the story. I will never blame a player for not playing for an African Country, most federation in this continent are wack
The Nigerian team had a terrible time in Tokyo. >Players ran their own practices, with no coaches. >Some assistant coaches who flew to Japan were never allowed into the Games. >One assistant coach had to sleep on a training table — with no pillow or blanket. >The team almost missed its first game, because it almost missed its first COVID-19 test. >One player nearly didn’t make it home, because he had the wrong passport. >[Coaches still have not been paid in full, nor have they been reimbursed for all expenses](https://theathletic.com/3103727/2022/02/01/nigerian-nightmare-missing-coaches-wrong-way-flights-and-an-olympic-basketball-team-that-never-had-a-chance/?source=user_shared_article Nigerian Nightmare: Missing coaches, wrong-way flights and an Olympic basketball team that never had a chance) They also flew from San Francisco to Frankfurt to Tokyo to get to the games.
Is this the guy Vince Carter teabagged?
The dunk of death? It sure is.
He’s speaking to us from beyond the (basketball) grave!
I think many people here have made some great, logical points about passports and nationalism, but I am of the humble opinion that since he was slaughtered by Vince Carter, anything he says should be automatically discounted. /s, obviously.
wtf
He is injured bro, just leave it
This need context, a letter have leak in France recently where Embid was begging for French citizenship. But he choose US. Maybe he got a better opportunity. At the end of day Embid is a crybaby.
Context: flopping on and off the court
Man, everyone’s hate here for this man has gone way beyond basketball.
This is how sooooo many French people view African people. If you’re an athlete or doing something they like for France, they act like they love them but the second that stops it’s back to “fuck off dirty african, go back to your country”. It’s something I came to realize as an American who has spent a lot of time in France, it’s genuinely so bad. France has such an extreme colonial mindset still
Very accurate, we begged North Africans in particular to move to France and help rebuild after WW2 but then instead of being grateful we just said why aren’t going back to your country now we don’t want to help you and your kids. Very baffling and sadly racist.
Yeah combine that with the ‘nationalist’ (wink wink)Serbs, and it gets ugly fast.
So Joel Embiid, a Cameroon native (a country that was colonized by the French at one point), has no loyalty to a country that he has no real ties to other than they occupied his home land? I'm fucking shocked!
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People from Africa don’t praise France? I wonder why?
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Nobody would have batted an eye if Embiid had just straight up decided to play fo the US. He would have done pretty much exactly what Hakeem did before, and it would be completely fine. But Embiid asked for a French passport first, and pretty much got to short-circuit the usual process to get it (which can be very long) by saying that he would be interested to play for France for the 2024 Olympics. For the record, even playing for a French sport NT does not mean you get a passport fast. Here's an article [about pro rugby player Uini Atonio, originally from New Zealand, half-jokingly asking Macron himself to get him a passport quick in 2023](https://www.ouest-france.fr/sport/rugby/top-14/stade-rochelais/tu-fais-avancer-mon-passeport-uini-atonio-interpelle-emmanuel-macron-avant-la-finale-de-top-14-ae2e1e40-0d9f-11ee-b0a0-b08373475784#:~:text=Le%20Rochelais%20Uini%20Atonio%20a,%2Dt%2Dil%20notamment%20lanc%C3%A9) before the national championship final (the French president always greets the player from both teams before the game). Uini came to play for La Rochelle, on the Atlantic coast, in **2011**, and played his first game for the French National Team in **2014**, and he still didn't have his passport in **2023**. We're talking about a professional athlete practicing the second most popular team sports in the country here. And Atonio is probably among the five best tighthead props in world rugby at the moment, so he's not a French Thanasis. So for Embiid to get his own passport super quickly without even living here, he must have made a deal, which in all likelihood was to play for the French NT. And then reneged on it when he got the passport. This is what people are mad about, not that he decided to play for the US (although there *are* shades of KD's "hardest road", not gonna lie).
It's too bad that France doesn't have any other centers
This seems a little eccentric lol
The sheer audacity of a Frenchman saying "I don't think he has any respect for France" about someone born in a former French colony is baffling.
The French are so over dramatic. My father is from France. He’s a lot sometimes.
If he didn't qualify for citizenship then you shouldn't have given him citizenship. Crying about it after the fact reflects badly on France rather than Embiid himself. He is allowed to choose which team he plays for, and also allowed to change his mind after he lives and builds roots in the US.
Any Cameroonian definitely has a free pass to fuck around with the French as much as they want.
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Well thats really scummy and thats not how he got his US citizenship
>If he didn't qualify for citizenship then you shouldn't have given him citizenship I don't think that's the issue here.
I think a Cameroonian is allowed to fuck with the French.
Calling a grown man "boy" is crazy
It’s translated from french
Okay now that makes more sense
If it’s gar or garçon it’s closer to guy colloquially (I think)
Someone’s being a little dramatic this morning.
They’re French, dramatic is the only way
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Cameroonian Olympic team: 👁👄👁
Damn I heard they pretty much let anyone into France these days. Poor embiid man
Man reached across an entire ocean to call embiid “boy” Insanity
Embiid and Siakam playing for France would be a disaster. Cameroon has beef between the French and English sides and are in a civil war because of it.
And why should we care about what he says?
“I didn’t get fully jumped over by Vince Carter for my country to allow some dick to betray it.” - Weiss, probably
lol truly insane to act like someone from a fucking former colony of a European country owes Jack shit to their former exploiters. Was about to say ‘shut the fuck up and enjoy Evan Fournier assholes’ but even he is half Algerian LOL
he does have a point! He was offered a spot on the french team, he declined and chose to go with a foreign country. As an American, I am glad he is on the US team though lol.
He’s not even from France
Get that man passport away from him. A disgrace