Team USA has been in shambles lately despite the NBA being the pinnacle of basketball leagues. After suffering losses against Lithuania and Germany, American basketball had its integrity questioned in FIBA 2023. To add insult to injury, Canada beat Team USA to deny any medal during the global event. However, completely diminishing them would be unfair because arguably, the best players in the league weren’t participating in the event.

Now, after weeks of trolling, a super team is prepared to join forces, to regain the bragging rights. Seems like the entire nation is getting back to the late great Kobe Bryant‘s “OK, that’s beautiful, but now we want it back,” mentality. However, the decision to participate in Paris 2024 is trickier for Joel Embiid than most athletes.

Joel Embiid and the representation dilemma

Joel Embiid is not just one of our finest active athletes, he’s also the reigning MVP. What he achieved last season with the Philadelphia 76ers speaks volumes of his caliber as a hooper. So when the national duty is calling about everyone to the front line, how can the 2023 MVP shy away from it? However, the Cameroon-born Embiid wasn’t actually on the wish list of most fans when it came to representing America in Paris in 2024. To the joy of basketball fans, the 29YO recently announced that he is more than willing to showcase American excellence in the upcoming Olympics.

Embiid’s official identity carries three nationalities, Cameroonian, French, and American. While most fans were flattered by his commitment to USA Basketball, fellow Frenchman Rudy Gobert took this announcement as a challenge. Reacting to Embiid’s statement, Gobert said “I am happy for him. I guess we’ll see him in Paris”. The 6x All-Star has a very clear take as to why he’s choosing Team USA for the next Olympics. He had said that the country had shown him nothing but love and that his son was an American by birth.

Embiid isn’t the only star who is willing to commit to the pride of the American flag, he has some elite company with him.

Basketball superheroes ready to get their pride back

Soon after the FIBA debacle, superstars like Stephen Curry, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant made promises for Paris 2024. Now that we are certain of Embiid joining this super-team as well, things are about to get super interesting moving forward. It is not just the American basketball excellence that will be on display, but we might also see a new rendition of the celebrated Redeem Team.

Read More: Joel Embiid Snubs Victor Wembanyama to Join Forces with LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant in 2024

After all, the Kobe Bryant-led super-team was assembled to battle out a similar integrity situation.

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