Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid secured his French citizenship earlier this year and now is standing in front of a very tough decision of switching to the France national basketball team which already has the likes of Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier, Vincent Fournier and Nicolas Batum to name a few. Joining France will help Embiid play international and FIBA events.
Recently in an interview with ‘The Athletic’s Joe Vardon, Rudy Gobert shared his thoughts on the proposition of Embiid joining France. He shares how it would be great for Gobert and Embiid to team up. But Gobert wants Embiid to do it for the right reasons. “If Joel’s heart is with us and he wants to do it for the right reasons, it would be an amazing opportunity for our team. I want him to do it for the right reasons,” Gobert shared.
The French basketball star shares how the France team is different from the NBA and here the things are done together collectively. “As long as he understands that the French national team is different than the NBA. We have rules, we have things that we do. Sometimes we all have lunch and dinner together — it’s not everybody doing their own thing,” Gobert explained.
The former Defensive Player of the Year shared that if Joel Embiid wants to join the team he should do it from his heart. “But I think the main thing for us, for him and for me is that I want to make sure that he does it from his heart. It has to come from him. You are either all in, or you’re not. You can’t just show up,” Gobert highlighted.
The French basketball team finished with the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. They also won the silver medal at the 2022 Eurobasket as they only came second to Spain who won the gold medal.
Despite the Philadelphia 76ers struggling to make a mark as they stand in seventh position in the Eastern Conference. They currently hold a record of 12-12 but their main man Joel Embiid has once again delivered career numbers for a second year in a row. He is averaging 31.9 points, 4.9 assists and 9.6 rebounds in the 16 games that he has played this season. Embiid will be looking to help his team get more wins as the Sixers have been very underwhelming this season.
