Boris Diaw confident Joel Embiid will play for France / News - Basketnews.com

French national team general manager Boris Diaw remains confident that NBA and Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid will play for France, despite interest from Team USA.

Credit: AP-Scanpix Credit AP-Scanpix

French national team general manager Boris Diaw remains confident that NBA and Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid will play for France, even though Cameroon-born forward obtained American nationality.

In July, Embiid obtained French nationality, but in September, it was announced that he also received an American passport.

However, Diaw claims that Embiid obtained American nationality to ease his daily living in the United States.

"There is no development since the last time we spoke," Diaw said before the upcoming FIBA World Cup European Qualifiers."The American nationality was something we knew for quite some time. It's more to make his living in the United States easier."

Asked whether he remains confident that Embiid will play for France in the future, Diaw gave a short and clear answer.

"Yes," Diaw claimed.

To be eligible to play for France, Embiid only needs a clearance from FIBA, which is considered to be a formality.

"He [Embiid] doesn't have the FIBA license yet. But it would be nice if he could have it and play for the French national team,"Diaw told RMC Sport in September.

"We know that he has become a French citizen. We try to have as many good players as possible and then make a team that plays well together," he added.

Earlier, Diaw stated that Embiid would have liked to play at EuroBasket 2022, but sustained injury prevented him from doing so.

In October, Marc Stein reported that Team USA will try swaying Embiid away from France in hopes that he can represent them in the upcoming international tournaments.

This season, Embiid averages 28.0 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 3.6 assists.

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