Joel Embiid playfully remarks how he'll respond to booing during Olympic final

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid and Team USA play France in the Olympics men's basketball final at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday at Bercy Arena in Paris. It'll be a rematch of the Tokyo Olympics final, which saw the U.S. defeat France 87-82.

As the Americans seek their fifth straight gold medal, the hosts are looking for their first, but the ongoing back-and-forth between Embiid and the hometown crowd will again be a noteworthy secondary plot line.

The 2022-23 NBA MVP said early in the tournament that he had little reaction to the booing French fans, but now he has a much different response in mind.

"It’s all about Team USA against France, but I know myself, I’m going to interact myself and I’m going to enjoy it," Embiid said, according to a report by Joe Vardon and Sam Amick of The Athletic. "They’re going to boo me. I’m going to go back at them and tell ’em to suck it. And so it’s going to be fun."

Per Amick and Vardon's report, the Cameroonian increased the volume of his interaction with his haters during Tuesday's quarterfinal victory against Brazil. On one occasion, he "brought his hands in a chopping motion toward his hips."

The animosity from fans stems from Embiid's October decision to play for the Americans instead of the French. Embiid has dual citizenship in both countries and could've suited up with the hosts.

The seven-time All-Star moved to the U.S. in high school and played one season at the University of Kansas. Since being drafted third overall in 2014, Embiid has spent his entire NBA career with the Sixers, and this is his first time competing in an international competition.

The 30-year-old has family in France and became a citizen in 2022 but has never lived there.

According to a July piece by Vardon, The Athletic 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.

"Embiid has denied there was a quid pro quo, but he also admitted that French president Emmanuel Macron called him to convince him to choose France after he had gained citizenship," Embiid said, per Amick and Vardon's report published on Friday. "Embiid’s reasons for choosing the U.S., where he has lived since he was a teenager, have bounced all over the place during the Olympics, from stating 'I’m an American' to suggesting he picked the U.S. because he felt more comfortable and 'wanted' by the team and its players."

The big man most recently said on Friday that living half of his life in the U.S. and the other half in Cameroon, "It just looked like it was, you could go two ways, and I always said from the beginning, everybody knew that if Cameroon would’ve qualified [for the Olympics], that would’ve never been a choice [to play for anyone but Cameroon]."