Joel Embiid is living an interesting existence as a basketball player. He didn’t even consider basketball as an option for living until Luc Mbah a Moute discovered him at a basketball camp years ago. That fateful meeting pushed him to make a life-changing decision that saw him transform into one of the best big men the league has ever seen.
While he’s now representing (and struggling in) Team USA, he still cherishes Cameroon and the entire African continent. The 2023 NBA MVP even talked about telling stories of his people through the screen.
Such a connection makes it easy to understand why he was one of the people outraged when Gilbert Arenas made unnecessarily rude comments about South Ghana’s men’s basketball team after almost beating Team USA in their tune-up game.
Joel Embiid calls out Gilbert Arenas for offensive term for South Ghana’s basketball team
Credit: Getty Images
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s DeAnte Prince covered what Arenas said about Embiid’s poor performance and how he was supposedly helping his fellow Africans win the game.
Embiid—who finished the narrow 101-100 USA victory with 14 points, seven rebounds, two assists, and three turnovers—had this to say about Arenas’ comments:
“Obviously, I don’t condone it,” Embiid said. “I’m African, first and foremost. I might be playing for Team USA, but I’m Cameroonian, first and foremost. I don’t know exactly what he said so I can’t comment on it. But if it was that negative, it’s just disappointing.”
He then said an inspiring message which shares a similar vein to Luol Deng’s inspired piece:
“You see what African basketball has done for us to be in this position, to be able to make some sort of impact,” Embiid said. “Even the position that I am, still have a lot of impact where I’m from and the whole continent of Africa. And that’s never going to stop.”
This isn’t the first hot take Arenas has done, and it won’t likely be the last. The only way Embiid can make him and the rest of Team USA’s critics stop talking is by dominating in the Olympics and bringing home the gold medal.
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