Inside Joel Embiid’s Olympics decision and why France’s ‘dream’ is far from reality

PARIS Jean-Pierre Siutats sixth-floor office at the French Basketball Federation is a 30-minute walk from Accor Arena, the 16,000-seat Parisian venue where the Olympic medal round will play out this summer.

Siutat, 65, has been president of French basketball since 2010. You can see Chinatown and the River Seine from his corner office suite, which is adorned with pictures and memorabilia from the considerable success he has enjoyed with Les Bleus (as the French mens national team is known).

But if he is to achieve his career goal, it will happen on Aug. 10, 2024, in the arena just 1.1 miles from his office. Thats the date for the mens basketball gold-medal game, which France has never won.

I try to build the team to make a result in the Olympic Games here, Siutat says, waving his hand toward the Paris viewable from his window, accentuating how important it is to him and to the French federation to build the best team possible for the Olympics his country is hosting.

From the summer of 2019 to the summer of 2022, Siutat and Team France were riding considerable momentum.

The French stunned USA Basketball in the 2019 FIBA World Cup quarterfinals in China, defeating the Americans by 10 behind huge performances from NBA mainstays Rudy Gobert (21 points, 16 rebounds) and Evan Fournier (22 points, four 3s). The French finished third overall at the event, behind champion Spain and second-place Argentina.

At the next major international tournament, the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, France beat the USA again, this time in Game 1 of pool play, with another unstoppable performance from Fournier (28 points). The two countries met again for the gold medal, and if not for a Herculean closing performance by American superstar Kevin Durant, the U.S. may not have escaped with a five-point win and its fourth consecutive Olympic title.

Siutat, with former NBA champion Boris Diaw as general manager for the French mens team, had set the target of peaking in Paris. They knew the team they would field to host the Olympics would include NBAers Fournier, Gobert and Nicolas Batum, as well as accomplished European players Nando De Colo, Guerschon Yabusele and Vincent Poirier.

Beyond those veterans, Siutat and Diaw were anticipating the arrival of 7-foot teenage sensation Victor Wembanyama, a rising star at the time who would, in all likelihood, have his NBA rookie season complete before the Paris Games.

But there was a wild card, another 7-footer with such a rare and awesome set of skills that, if added to the already impressive pool of French talent and experience, would have cemented Les Bleus as a favorite to win gold in its arena on the Seine.

Joel Embiid was interested in playing for France. To do so, Embiid needed a French passport.

Siutat made sure he got one.

And then things fell apart.

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Embiid never lived in France. He was born March 16, 1994, in Yaounde, Cameroon, and speaks fluent French, an official language of his native country. When he was 16, he moved to the U.S. and has been there ever since.

When the idea of Embiid playing for France was first introduced into the public domain, way back in 2018, he told the French newspaper Lquipe that if he ever played in FIBA, his first choice would be for Cameroon, but he cited the myriad financial and governing issues that complicated playing for his home country.

My native country (Cameroon), France and the United States are my current options, Embiid said then. I just want good management.

To this day, Embiid insists he never told Team France anything much different than the quote he gave to the French newspaper six years ago, up until the moment in October when he chose Team USA over Les Bleus for the Paris Olympics.

Siutat and Diaw are adamant that Embiid told them on multiple occasions during the 2021-22 NBA season that he wanted to play for France.

Joel came to us and said that he wanted to play international basketball, he said he wanted to win, and he said he wanted to play for France and he wanted to win with France, Diaw told The Athletic. So we listened to him.

Siutat said he, Diaw and Embiid met twice, first over drinks in Orlando, Fla., and then in March 2022 at a steak restaurant in Philadelphia. At both meetings, the two sides expressed their interest in a partnership of some kind. Embiid does not dispute this, though, through a spokesman, he said Siutat and Diaw asked him to play for them at the Olympics, whereas the two French officials say they didnt seek him out they were instead acting on his conveyed interest, and they said they were talking about Embiid joining the team well before the Olympics.

For Embiid to play for France, first, he would need to become a French citizen which is not necessarily an easy thing to do. Typically citizenship is granted to foreigners living in France for two or five years (depending on what they were doing while they lived there), foreigners who have parents or a spouse who is French or foreigners who were adopted by French parents.

None of these criteria fit Embiid.

He said, yes, I want to (play), make the paper, Siutat said, referring to the passport. So I make the job, with the help of the government, to get a passport for him and for his son. And all the time, he said, I want to play for the national team of France.

A spokesman for Embiid said the seven-time All-Star disputes Siutats characterization of that conversation, saying he did not ask for a passport it was something the French officials pursued on their own.

So many countries used to do it. We dont do this, Siutat said. For Joel, this is only a decision because he can help the national team to get the medal. This is the only reason for him to get the passport.

Siutats point: He would not have gone as far as he did for Embiid to become a French citizen if he didnt think Embiid was intending to play for Team France.

The process began in May 2022. Siutat said he arranged for a French diplomat working at the embassy in Washington, D.C. to meet with Embiid in Philadelphia for a formal interview. Philippe tienne, the French ambassador to the U.S. at the time, confirmed in an email that one of his colleagues flew to Philadelphia to meet with the 76ers superstar.

Diaw, in explaining the French naturalization process for Embiid, who, again, had no residency nor any direct French heritage, said applicants must demonstrate why they should gain citizenship, through an exceptional, unique service to France. The nation of nearly 68 million people didnt happen to have a 7-footer with an NBA career scoring average of nearly 28.0 points per game.

When the government asked us, Would it be good to have this guy? Can he bring something for France? Can he bring something for the country? Would it be good for the country? Yeah, we said yes, Diaw said. Thats how he got it.

On July 5, 2022, written on page 55 of the Official Journal of the French Republic, was: Joel Hans Embiid, born March 16, 1994, in Yaound, is now officially the holder of a French passport, under article 21.19 paragraph 6 of the Civil Code which provides that nationality can be granted to a foreigner () whose naturalization is of exceptional interest.

But that exceptional interest never materialized for France.

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The European championship, known as EuroBasket, was in September 2022, and when the French officials and Embiid began discussing a passport the previous spring, Team France wanted Embiid in the fold for that. Nikola Joki, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doni were among the NBA stars playing for their respective home countries.

But after the effort to get Embiid a passport was underway, Embiid had surgery to repair a torn ligament in his thumb, shortly after the Sixers lost in the 2022 NBA playoffs. He, therefore, was out for EuroBasket.

He was injured so we said, OK, dont worry, Siutat said.

French officials should have been worried.

While Team France was on its way to a runner-up finish at EuroBasket in Berlin without Embiid that September, he was at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, swearing an oath of citizenship in the United States.

We asked him then if he still was with us. He was like, Yes, I still want to play for France, Diaw told The Athletic. But then he didnt commit.

With the 2022-23 NBA season underway, Grant Hill found his way to Embiid. Hill, of course, is Diaws counterpart on USA Basketball. After Hills first conversation with Embiid that winter, he told confidants that he wasnt sure Embiid would play for France after all. Hill had confidence that Embiid might even choose to play for Team USA at the Olympics.

One thing Hill was sure of: Embiid wasnt going to play for France or the U.S. at the 2023 FIBA World Cup in southeast Asia; he was getting married.

Meanwhile, that World Cup was a disaster for France.

While France did not need to play well to qualify for the Olympics host countries receive an automatic bid into the basketball tournament Les Bleus played so poorly that it was not even close to finishing in the top two among European nations at the Cup (which is what it would normally take to qualify). Not only were the French without Embiid, but Wembanyama chose not to play so he could prepare for his rookie season with the San Antonio Spurs. Lacking the passion and focus that had carried them in China, Tokyo and Berlin, the French failed to get out of pool play.

Team France was on the clock for Paris, and in a September news conference after returning home from the World Cup, Siutat set an Oct. 10 deadline for Embiid. He had to know if Embiid was in or out for France.

Embiid, according to his spokesman, was turned off by the pressure Siutat had applied to him and beat the deadline by five days.

On Oct. 5, Hills 51st birthday, Embiid told him in a face-to-face meeting that he was committing to play for Team USA.

We learned about it the same day, Siutat said. Its not so easy to get the passport. We do this because he asked us, and we were very happy to welcome him. At the end of the story, he decided to go to the U.S. team.

Its done for me, but you know, you dont have to ask for the passport.

Embiid, who is still recovering from surgery to repair a meniscus tear in February, was not made available to The Athletic by his spokesman. That spokesman said: We understand they (the French) are disappointed. Joel was clear that he would make a decision when he was ready, and they chose to secure his citizenship in anticipation. Joel loves all three of the countries he calls home and will continue to find ways to support all of them.

Embiid returned to Sixers practice this week and is hopeful to return to action before the start of the postseason, and he still plans to play in the Olympics for Team USA.

The Americans, already winners of the last four Olympic golds, could pair Embiid with the likes of Durant, LeBron James, Stephen Curry and a host of accomplished NBA stars who have won gold medals.

Center was their weak position the last Olympics, the last two World Cups, if they had one weakness, said Vincent Collet, the longtime Team France coach who spoke with The Athletic in a barren conference room in the basement of the same office building where Siutat works. With Embiid, for sure it changed everything. Now no weakness.

Collet coached Wembanyama last season in the French pro league and also for the few games in which Wembanyama played for Team France in FIBA competition. Collet said he had intended to play Gobert (7-1), Wembanyama (7-4) and Embiid, the 7-foot, 2023 NBA MVP and career 34 percent shooter from 3-point range, together as starters.

The challenges presented to the rest of the world, and the inherent advantages France would have had, are obvious.

It would be easy to make them play together, especially Victor with Joel, because with Victors mobility, he can really play the three, Collet said. To have them together on the court would have been very special. Thats why I was so disappointed.

Siutat, Diaw and Collet all said the French still expect to medal, but they all consider the U.S., which finished fourth in the World Cup last summer, a heavy favorite.

Team USA, with him, who can beat you? Come on, nobody, Siutat said. This is an easy way for him to get an Olympic medal.

The French roster, like Team USAs, is expected to be announced sometime in the spring. Collet, Siutat and Diaw spent weeks this winter traveling the U.S., spending time with potential (likely) players who will represent France at the Olympics. There are currently 14 French players in the NBA.

Among them: Bilal Coulibaly, a 19-year-old rookie with the Washington Wizards who is 6-8, a 3-and-D wing and, like Wembanyama, did not play for France at the World Cup. He is high on Collets list; a broken wrist suffered Saturday night ended his regular season but will not require surgery.

Alex Sarr is only 18 years old and is playing for the Perth Wildcats in the National Basketball League. But he is projected by some experts as the top prospect in the 2024 NBA Draft, and at 7-1, he could give the French three 7-footers in the frontcourt, just not the one they envisioned when they thought they had Embiid.

Germany, the defending World Cup champion, is expected to send to Paris another strong team anchored by Dennis Schrder and Franz Wagner. Serbia, runner-up at the World Cup, should have Joki at the Olympics (he didnt play at the World Cup) and will face the Americans in group play on July 28. Canada, which beat the U.S. for third place at the World Cup, will likely have a roster packed with upper-level NBA talent.

The U.S. will be favored to win above all of those worthy opponents, and France, as tournament host, will be ranked somewhere among them.

I dont know if there is a real (English) word to describe it would be accomplishing my kid dream, Collet said when asked what it would be like to coach France to gold in Paris. When I was a young kid, I was playing in the Olympic finals against Team USA. But I was winning.

For Collet, Siutat and Team France, realizing that shared dream is a taller task now by about 7 feet.

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(Top photos: Christophe Saidi / SIPA / Associated Press; Brian Babineau, Christophe Archambault / Getty Images; illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic)