LeBron James Comes to Joel Embiid’s Defence as More Details on Ugly France Controversy Spill

Joel Embiid has been facing severe backlash from the French hoops community. The hate towards the former MVP is visible and palpable during Team USA’s games. It’s that whenever Embiid even touches the ball, the crowd erupts with boos. But why is that? Well, The Process holds a French passport and was eligible to represent France in the 2024 Olympics. However, even after talks with President Emmanuel Macron, assisting in easing his introduction to France, Embiid decided to represent Team USA. Yes, the French hate the Sixer as of now, but being aware of the situation, his teammates are standing by his side.

LeBron James, the leader and the eldest on Team USA, recently shared his insights on how Joel Embiid’s teammates have supported him on and off the court. “We are all on Jo’s side. Jo’s in great spirits, we’re all in great spirits, and as his 11 teammates, we just give him the support that he needs both on the floor and off the floor if needed.”, King James said via NY Times. It is honestly great to see his team and coaches step up and support him.

Moreover, Embiid has no hate against the ongoing Olympics’ hosts but only chose to represent Team USA for a simple reason. “There was some concern with the other side. Comfort level was huge. I always say I’m going to be where I’m wanted and these guys wanted me.”, he said. Now, even if Joel was to play for France, it would’ve been a problem having three seven-footers on the floor at once. Besides, Embiid is now part of a historic team. Team USA is widely considered one of the greatest teams assembled after the star-studded Dream Team. To be a part of this national dream is more than a career highlight for The Process. 

Not to mention, Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier both would’ve loved to have Joel Embiid on the roster. Whereas other French players questioned the center’s possible addition. While the Sixer did go on to play for Team USA, the hate hasn’t stopped there at the base level. His performance in the first few exhibition games didn’t go as expected, coming across as severely lackluster and it angered the fans even more, as many suggested Steve Kerr to take him off the starting lineup. However, these initial bugs were fixed as soon as the preliminary round was tipped off.

Joel Embiid dominated against Puerto Rico

The Process had his best performance in the last game of the group stage. Playing Puerto Rico, Joel Embiid dropped 15 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists while shooting over 40% from the field. This was by far his best performance in the Olympics, with this one only being his second game. Steve Kerr had benched Joel against South Sudan. Well, the reason behind was quite simple. The head coach wanted Team USA to keep up with the Sudanese fast-paced game. He clarified that there was no other side-eyed reasoning.

Joel Embiid will look to get back at it, as Team USA prepares to take on Brazil in the Quarter-Finals on Tuesday. It will be an interesting matchup as Team USA looks to clinch its 5th consecutive Gold dream. People often forget that The Process had a tough time coping with the hoopers, however, those were all exhibition games. And the warmup fixtures are meant for the players to dust off all the rust and for the head coach to find his combinations, isn’t it?

At the end of the day, everybody isn’t Kevin Durant, who will come off an injury and get going in an instant. So, ideally, Joel Embiid can only play well on the hardwood and prove these critics wrong. And it looks like he’s kick-started that process!

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