Joel Embiid responds to boos from French fans at Olympics

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid backed up his decision to play for Team USA, rather than France, during the Summer Olympics in Paris, saying Tuesday that he was "loving" playing for the Americans.

Embiid, who was heavily booed during Team USA's first Olympics game against Serbia on Sunday, started the Americans' 110-84 victory over fellow big men Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo but played a game-low 11 minutes. The Cameroon native scored four points on 2-for-5 shooting while adding two rebounds and one block.

Embiid moved to the U.S. in high school and played one season at the University of Kansas. He's spent his entire NBA career with the Sixers since being selected third overall in the 2014 NBA Draft.

This is Embiid's first time competing in an international competition. The 2022-23 MVP committed to Team USA in October.

Among the critics of Embiid's decision was former New York Knicks first-round pick and French national team member Frederic Weis.

"I consider this boy a great player as much as he is a dirty guy," the 47-year-old Weis said of Embiid on his radio show at the French station RMC, per Mark Puleo of The Athletic. "I hate him for the things that he did. I think he doesn’t have any respect for France and also for all the people who are asking for a French passport and don’t get it. And under the pretext that he is a great athlete, he got it. I find it scandalous, I find it embarrassing. I don’t care about his excuses, cause they are his words, and his words mean nothing."

Although the seven-time All-Star has family in France, he's never lived in the country, according to Puleo's report. He became a French citizen in 2022.

Per a piece by Joe Vardon of The Athletic, the publication reported in March that French basketball officials "helped him get a French passport under his direction so that he would be eligible to play not only in the Paris Games" but also in the FIBA World Cup, which took place last summer.

"This is a great setting for me because I am playing with a lot of great players," Embiid said, according to the report. "It’s all about finding ways to win — whatever I can do."