Embiid toys with representing Cameroon at 2028 L.A. Olympics

U.S. men's national team center Joel Embiid hasn't given up representing his birth nation Cameroon at the Olympics.

"Paris is a great city, and the next one is L.A. It might not be with Team USA, it might be with Cameroon," Embiid said, according to Ron Kroichick of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Embiid has been on the receiving end of a hostile French crowd the entire tournament after he snubbed Les Bleus and committed to play for the United States last October.

The 30-year-old has French and Cameroonian citizenship but opted to play for USA to represent his son, who was born in America. Embiid became an American citizen in 2022 and has lived in the U.S. since he was 16 years old.

Making the switch to Cameroon might not be an easy task for Embiid. FIBA rules stipulate that once a player is 17 and has represented a country in a FIBA-sanctioned event, that player isn't allowed to play for another nation.

However, there's a loophole that would allow Embiid to represent Cameroon. A player can swap nationalities if both federations - in this case, the United States and Cameroon - agree and if FIBA believes the change is in the interest of basketball development in the country.

Ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Games, FIBA denied WNBA players Nneka Ogwumike and Elizabeth Williams their requests to represent Nigeria since they had "substantial involvement" in the U.S. women's national team.

Embiid will be 34 years old when the 2028 L.A. Olympics take place, and Cameroon has never qualified for an Olympic tournament in men's basketball.

Embiid made his official debut for the United States in Paris and has played in four of the Americans' five games. The seven-time All-Star is averaging 13 points, four rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 18 minutes per game.

The U.S. takes on France in the gold-medal game on Saturday.