On Sunday, former France national team player Frederic Weiss said he wanted Joel Embiid to be expelled from France for choosing to play for the United States instead of France at the upcoming Olympics. The bad relationship with the USA Basketball team became even more serious. Paris.
Weiss, who was immortalized in the 2000 Olympics by getting on the wrong side of Vince Carter's “death dunk,” spoke out on French broadcaster RMC's radio show about Embiid's defeat of the French team. I hate it,” he said. He thinks the Philadelphia 76ers center is a “dirty guy.”
“I think this kid is a dirty guy and a great player at the same time. I hate him because of what he did,” Weiss said. “I think he has no respect for France and also for people who demand French passports and cannot get them. And under the pretext that he is a great athlete, he And he got it. I think it's scandalous and I think it's embarrassing. I don't care about his excuses, because those are his words and his words don't mean anything. is.”
Embiid, who was born and raised in Cameroon and moved to the United States in high school, expressed interest in playing for France in 2018, telling French newspaper L'Equipe that Cameroon was his first choice to play internationally at the time. , but France and America were options. Although Embiid has family in France, he has never lived there.
The 2022-23 NBA MVP has never played on the international stage and claims he has never communicated anything different from the newspaper quote to Team France. However, Boris Diaw, general manager of the French men's team, said: The Athletic Joel told him he wanted to play for France.
“Joel came to us and said he wants to play international basketball, he wants to win, he wants to play for France and he wants to win for France,” Diaw said. “So we listened to him.”
A spokesperson for Embiid said Embiid never sought citizenship but obtained a passport in 2022 anyway. Reports have surfaced of a letter Embiid sent to French President Emmanuel Macron, in which Embiid allegedly stated, “I would like to take steps to become a naturalized French citizen and be selected by the Blues.” . Therefore, he does not want to play for any other national team. ”
In response to Embiid's apparent act of betrayal, Weiss jokingly suggested that Embiid should be banned from France.
“I'm going to strip him of his French citizenship and ban him from entering France. You won't be competing in the Olympics,” Weiss said. “You'll come to the airport with Team USA, and we'll say, 'You have no right to enter the territory, go home.' You're Cameroonian, you're American, you You are not French, please leave.”
Weiss, who won an Olympic silver medal in 2000 and was a first-round pick of the New York Knicks in 1999, accused Embiid of taking a shortcut to winning gold.
Embiid was the top name in Team USA's April 17 roster announcement, joining a list of legendary big men who played in the United States as naturalized citizens, including Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing and Tim Duncan. Become. The reigning MVP said he would like to represent Team USA and win a gold medal in honor of his son's home country.
Weiss' comments Sunday suggested that he harbored a grudge against the national team that tarnished his reputation, but the now 46-year-old 7-footer told ESPN in 2015 that he was not happy with his 2000 dunk. He said he has no regrets about the infamous afterthought.
“Unfortunately, I was also in the video,” Weiss said at the time. “Man learned that he could fly.”
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