Published on 03.05.2022 at 10:32 am by Emile Zola Ndé Tchoussi
The current top scorer in the NBA, in the regular season, long courted by France, where he has no ties, was persuaded to naturalize, to the dismay of Cameroonians.
Joël Embiid, (28) pure Cameroonian, wants to become French! The news had the effect of a bomb in the landscape of Cameroonian basketball. The Cameroon Basketball Federation has always hoped to see the pivot of Philadelphia one day defend the colors of green-red-yellow.
Long coaxed by the French Basketball Federation, the Joël Embiid case divided the French for a while. Some players campaigned for his presence with the Blues, but others like Tony Parker, Evan Fournier and Edwin Jackson were totally against it. But that was in 2018, now that the Cameroonian has become one of the best players in the NBA, he is now unanimous in France. The Cameroonian could be elected MVP (best player of the season).
Joël Embiid, who regularly participates in the All Star Game, is so far a real Cameroonian pride. It is important for Cameroon to have a standard bearer like him as well as for the youth of African basketball too. Approached several times by the Cameroon Basketball Federation to compete in the Afrobasket, Cameroon is still faced with insurance problems, which seem unaffordable for the Federation.
In Joel Embiid news, the Sixers qualified for the 2022 play-offs, in large part thanks to his pivot, who is hovering around 35 points per game this season. But Embiid tore a ligament in his right thumb in the first round against the Toronto Raptors of the other Cameroonian NBA Pascal Siakam (4-2 victory in the series), last Sunday. Embiid nevertheless continues to play and must have surgery once the season is over. During the same series, Embiid suffers a concussion and a fracture of the frontal bone at the level of the right orbit.
Joel Embiid’s style is simple. Its large size (2m13) allows it to be effective in defense and its mobility is a strong point in attack. Before the 2014 NBA draft he was compared to Nigerian legend Hakeem Olajuwon and Tim Duncan. Moreover, his 3-point shooting is effective for a pivot. He is endowed with power and a very good skill under and behind the basket (post game).
In his private life, Joel Embiiid is Thomas Embiid (retired army colonel, former Cameroonian handball international) and Christine Embiid. On October 16, 2014, in the Biyem-Assi district of Yaoundé, where he was born and raised there, he lost his little brother Arthur, then 13 years old, hit by a car. An unfortunate accident that turned his life upside down. He also has a little sister Muriel Laurence.
Biyem-Assi’s child is known to be very active on social media. On July 8, he posted a video of himself saying, “F*** LaVar Ball! (Father of Lonzo Ball), this incident will earn him a fine of 10,000 dollars from the NBA In 2018, some American tabloids lend him a relationship with the Brazilian model Anne Depaula. In 2021, Embiid and Anne Depaula had a son named Arthur Depaula Embiid.
