Joel Embiid’s quest for an Olympic basketball gold medal with Team USA set to begin

Former University of Kansas one-and-done basketball center Joel Embiid is expected to be in the starting lineup for Team USA in its 2024 Olympic Games opener against Serbia, set for a 10:15 a.m. Central tipoff on Sunday in Lille, France.

It will be shown live on NBC, Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.

Embiid, a 7-foot, 280-pound, 30-year-old one-time NBA MVP who plays for the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA, started the five pre-Olympics exhibition games for the U.S. He averaged 10.4 points and 6.8 rebounds in 16.8 minutes per game.

Embiid in the final exhibition versus Germany scored 15 points with eight rebounds, five assists, one block and one steal in Team USA’s 92-88 victory.

Coach Steve Kerr as of Friday had not announced his starting lineup. It’s widely assumed LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors will join Embiid in the starting lineup. According to CBSSports.com’s Brad Botkin, the final two spots will be selected from the group of NBA standouts Jrue Holiday (Boston Celtics), Jayson Tatum (Celtics), Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves) and Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns).

Big men expected to sub for Embiid on a deep USA team that’s favored by 12.5 points in the opener figure to be Anthony Davis (Lakers) and Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat). Davis has averaged 11.4 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists in the five exhibitions (17.8 minutes per game). Davis has 15 blocks to Embiid’s one.

The three bigs may all be needed in an attempt to slow 6-foot-11, 285-pound Serbia superstar Nikola Jokic, a three-time NBA MVP for the Denver Nuggets.

“I don’t care about Jokic. I’m playing for my National Team,” Embiid, who is making his first appearance in the Olympic Games, said earlier this summer.

Of Embiid’s final tuneup performance against Germany, Kerr told USA Today: “He was great, super active. He just looked like Joel. He’s got such great hands, great touch, and I was disappointed we didn’t throw him the ball more in the second half. He was dominating out there, and we kept settling for mid-range shots, high ball-screen dribble, dribble, dribble, pull-up 18 footers.”

Embiid missed 29 consecutive games last season while recovering from meniscus surgery in his left knee. He battled knee pain and Bell’s palsy during the NBA playoffs. Embiid’s Sixers lost to the New York Knicks in six games in the first round of the 2024 NBA playoffs.

“I never worry about injuries because the moment I do, I feel like I’m not going to play the same way that I usually do and I’m not going to be the same,” Embiid told USA Today. “I’ve always believed if something happens, I guess it’s meant to happen. So just go on with the flow.”

An interesting side story regarding Embiid is the issue of how he’ll be treated by the fans from France, who may be upset with him for choosing to play in the Olympics for the United States over France.

According to USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt: “Embiid had national team choices. Born in Cameroon (a former French colony in Africa), he could’ve played for his native country (in qualifying tourney). He also could’ve played for France, which recruited him heavily to play alongside Rudy Gobert and Victor Wembanyama. Imagine that front line for France.”

Embiid, who became a U.S. citizen in September of 2022 and also obtained his French passport in 2022, considered France, but the country’s national team federation gave Embiid a strict deadline to decide.

“France president Emmanuel Macron even texted Embiid, and the two talked on the phone. The French president’s campaign to get Embiid fell short,” wrote Zillgitt.

Of choosing the U.S. Embiid said: “Family played a big part of it. Obviously having built my family here and really being here for now half of my life (14 years including a year at KU) just made more sense.”

Embiid — his son Arthur was born in the U.S. — was heckled on Thursday in France while walking to the Team USA bus after a practice.

“Give back your passport,” one fan said as quoted by the New York Post. “You should have played for France. You’re not American.”

Of possible booing, Embiid told USA Today: “Embrace it. “Done it all my career. I don’t think it can get worse than playing in New York in the playoffs, so I’ve seen it all: Boston crowds, New York crowds.”

The U.S., is trying for its fifth straight gold medal at the Olympic Games. Going with a different roster, Team USA placed fourth and did not win a medal at the World Cup last summer.

Group C consists of the U.S., Serbia, South Sudan and Puerto Rico. Group B consists of France, Germany, Japan and Brazil. Group A is Australia, Greece, Canada and Spain. The group phase runs from Saturday through Sunday, August 4. The knockout rounds will follow from Tuesday, August 6, through Sunday, August 11.

Each team will play the other three teams in its group. It will gain two points for a win, one point for a loss, and zero points for a loss by forfeit. The top two teams in each group will advance to the quarterfinals. The two best third-place teams will also advance to the quarterfinals. All other teams will be eliminated.

Embiid has said he doesn’t care about minutes, just claiming a gold medal for the USA.

“We’ve got one goal, and that’s to win the gold, and we’re coming together with that mindset,” Embiid told USA Today. “We are not here to compete against each other. We just here to make each other better so we are on the same page so we can go out and do our best to win the gold. I’m fine. I play with a lot of great amazing basketball players, so if I’ve got to take zero shots and play defense, I’m happy with it. I’m great.”

Embiid averaged 11.2 points and 8.1 rebounds per game in his one season at KU (2013-14). Embiid was named the 2014 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and was an all Big-12 second-team selection.

Embiid had a KU-record eight blocked shots against Oklahoma State. He also set the KU freshman record for most rebounds per game, most blocks in a single freshman season (72). He posted the highest field-goal percentage in a freshman season at Kansas (62.6%).

He is KU’s first basketball Olympian since Sasha Kaun, who won bronze representing Russia in the 2012 Olympics in London. The last Jayhawk to play for the U.S. National Team was Danny Manning in 1988.