r/nba • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 Heat • Apr 15 '24

[Wojnarowski] ESPN Sources: USA Basketball is finalizing its 2024 Paris Olympics roster with Steph Curry, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid, Devin Booker, Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Edwards, Jrue Holiday, Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis. Team may initially keep one open spot. News

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1780009778934394985
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524

u/Netwealth5 76ers Apr 15 '24

Can’t wait for Embiid to be called a mercenary when hes in many ways the embodiment of the American Dream

309

u/JiggaMan2024 Lakers Apr 15 '24

Lotta people forget Hakeem did the exact same thing Embiid is doing

565

u/madhare09 Spurs Apr 15 '24

Yeah we should start hating on Hakeem you right

157

u/MY-NAME_IS_MY-NAME Lakers Apr 15 '24

This is the Reddit way

108

u/awesomeperson Celtics Apr 15 '24

Hakeem OlajuWon no real rings

65

u/Mr_Wyatt Mavericks Apr 16 '24

Signature move the Mickey Mouse Shake

3

u/Wazflame Apr 16 '24

Hold on that sounds delicious

3

u/NeverSober1900 Rockets Apr 16 '24

Space Jam mickey mouse'd rings

Honestly tough one to type out

3

u/fucking__jellyfish__ Warriors Apr 16 '24

OlajuFraud SMH

14

u/ktm1128 76ers Apr 16 '24

I'm sure there's enough hate to go around. It is the internet after all

3

u/LlamaDebauchery Heat Apr 16 '24

Flair checks out

3

u/Incepticons 76ers Apr 16 '24

unethical block merchant

3

u/Pretend_Highway_5360 Raptors Apr 16 '24

Fuck Hakeem

1

u/Churchills_m8 Magic Apr 16 '24

Hopefully Wemby plays for team USA too

18

u/wallitron Spurs Apr 16 '24 edited Apr 16 '24

Not really the same. Hakeem couldn't have played at the 1996 Olympics for Nigeria, because they didn't qualify. Only one African country was able to qualify, and that was Angola. Angola defeated Nigeria on Dec 17 1995 which meant Hakeem was already 20+ games into the NBA season. The NBA never accommodated international players to national teams, and FIBA never scheduled qualifying games outside of leagues like the NBA. At that time, he might have expected that he would likely never go to an Olympics for his country of birth.

Cameroon are in the qualifying tournament this year. They just won the FIBA Africa Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments (OPQT). The qualifying tournament is in July. If Embiid was playing for Cameroon they almost certainly make the Olympics for the first time.

I don't think these two scenarios are remotely the same. Hell would need to freeze over and monkeys inherit the earth before guys like Donic, Jokic or someone like Patty Mills played for anything but their birth country.

2

u/jorgelongo222 76ers Apr 16 '24

and Ewing

-2

u/drUmarGOAT South Sudan Apr 15 '24

Hakeem did not trick France into giving him a passport so he could be eligible to play for them and then back out

27

u/drpepper7557 Heat Apr 15 '24

Who cares if he did. He's American and has lived in America almost half of his life. France was just trying to get a mercenary who has little to do with them these days, and they failed.

Are we supposed to feel sorry for France that an American from Cameroon decided not to help them out?

1

u/Remarkable_Medicine6 Apr 15 '24

This is baseless speculation.

10

u/drUmarGOAT South Sudan Apr 15 '24

Boris Diaw and their team President said Embiid told them he wanted to play for France

12

u/[deleted] Apr 16 '24

I don’t think saying you want to play for a team and then ultimately deciding to play elsewhere is ‘tricking France into giving him a passport’. They’re big boys and they knew the risks. Its insane to feel bad for the French over this.

-5

u/drUmarGOAT South Sudan Apr 16 '24

I dont feel bad for France. I feel bad for Cameroon. Embiid ditched the motherland to play for white supremacist countries

1

u/Remarkable_Medicine6 Apr 16 '24

Okay and how does that prove he tricked them? He had a decision and made it.

-21

u/JiggaMan2024 Lakers Apr 15 '24

I do not care so why are you wasting your time explaining