Sixers’ center says, Team USA is an old team. People are deceived by the value of the names on paper, but many are no longer what they once were.”
Joel Embiid started with LeBron James: “It is evident to everyone that athletically he is no longer the dominant player he was a couple of seasons ago,” Embiid argues. He warns, “In Paris, there are many national teams that have the same talent as we do.”
In Team USA’s latest performance, with a thrilling finish against South Sudan, a well-known figure took center stage: LeBron James. Not only did he finish the game with 23 points, the top scorer for Team USA, but he also carried his teammates from the start of the second half. In a one-on-one isolation play, he defeated J.T. Thor and scored the game-winning basket for a 101-100 victory.
However, almost simultaneously with James’s on-court heroics, Joel Embiid’s words were making headlines in the “New York Times.” Embiid, LeBron’s teammate in the upcoming Paris Olympics, seemed to be singing a different tune:
“Today’s LeBron is not the same as two years ago, and that makes a big difference. It is clear to everyone—besides being very easy to see—that the athletically dominant LeBron of a couple of years ago is not the same today.”
This isn’t surprising for a player who will turn 40 in December, but James’s (alleged) decline seems to be the least of Team USA’s problems. “It’s easy to get excited about our team’s talent, but there are many other national teams with equal talent,” says the Philadelphia center.
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“Most of our players are old: people are deceived by the value of the names on paper, but that value was built over the years during their careers. Today, however, they are older and are not the same as they once were,” concludes Embiid, clearly concerned about the age of Team USA’s three major stars: LeBron (39), Curry (36), and Durant (35). Yet, these players might have something to say in response to the Sixers’ center.
