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Joel Embiid was born in Yaounde, Cameroon on March 16, 1994. He is Cameroonian but with French and American citizenship.
The Philadelphia 76ers superstar received French citizenship in July 2022. Two months later, he was sworn in as an American citizen in Philadelphia.
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Embiid didn’t play basketball early in his life. He was a soccer and volleyball player who aspired to play professional volleyball in Europe.
Only a chance encounter with Luc Mbah a Moute changed his life. The skinny and gangly 15-year-old teen joined a basketball camp that was under the direction and promotion of the former NBA player.
Soon after the two met, Mbah a Moute became Embiid’s mentor. With his mentor’s help and influence, the aspiring basketball player moved to the U.S. just a year after the basketball camp in Cameroon.
Joel Embiid’s first taste of hoops outside of his home country was at Montverde Academy in Florida. The raw but talented teen promptly transferred to The Rock School after not getting enough playing time with his former school.
Embiid’s new school won the state championship in his senior year. The vastly-improved Cameroonian averaged 13.0 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists. He committed as a five-star recruit to Kansas after his last year in high school.
After a one-year stint with the Jayhawks, he declared eligibility for the 2014 NBA Draft. The Philadelphia 76ers picked him third, becoming the third Cameroonian behind Luc Mbah-a-Moute and Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje to be selected in the NBA Draft.
Joel Embiid is mulling between the United States and France as the country to play for in the Olympics
Although a native of Cameroon, Joel Embiid has never played FIBA basketball for his birth country. He had his first chance during the 2017 AfroBasket, but ultimately pulled his name out of the team.
Cameroon failed to qualify for the FIBA World Cup, which eliminated them from the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Hence, Embiid is likely to choose between the United States and France as the country to play for.
“The Process” will most likely sit out the FIBA Basketball World Cup as he is playing through a sprained right knee. Embiid suffered the injury in Game 3 against the Brooklyn Nets.
French team manager Boris Diaw has been confident since last year that the newly-minted MVP will commit to play for the host country. Who Embiid will play for could dictate the winner of next year’s basketball Olympic gold medal winner.
The US barely won the gold medal in Tokyo against a French team that had Rudy Gobert manning the middle. France could field a frontline that will have Joel Embiid, Rudy Gobert and Victor Wembanyama, the highly projected No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 NBA Draft.
While the tug-of-war for Embiid will rage on, the MVP has vowed to focus on the Philadelphia 76ers’ playoff campaign for now. They are battling the Boston Celtics in the second round of the postseason.
Notably, Philly won Game 1 without Embiid and lost Game 2 with him in the lineup.
