Joel Embiid Takes Bizarre Shot At LeBron James

LeBron James and Anthony Davis are currently with Team USA preparing for the Paris Olympics. 39-year-old LeBron is chasing his third Olympic gold medal and is joined by a star-studded cast consisting of fellow MVPs and NBA champions.

One of his superstar teammates is the Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid. After becoming a naturalized citizen, Embiid made his decision to play for Team USA this summer. The 30-year-old big man gave a detailed interview to the New York Times this week in which he took a ridiculous shot at his teammate LeBron James.

Saying that LeBron is not the player he used to be, Embiid highlighted the ages of Team USA stars as a weakness in the Olympics.

"You look at the talent that the U.S. has, but there’s equal talent on other teams. And the talent that’s on the U.S. team, you also got to understand most of those guys are older. The LeBron now is not the LeBron that was a couple of years ago. So it’s a big difference. Everybody would also tell you, and you can see for yourself, the athletic LeBron, dominant that he was a couple of years ago, is not the same that he is now. I think people get fooled by the names on paper. But those names have been built throughout their career, and now they’re older. They’re not what they used to be."

- Joel Embiid

Even though LeBron James is clearly not as good as he was five years ago, he is still an All-NBA caliber player. In 2023, a 38-year-old LeBron carried the Lakers to the Conference Finals, farther than Embiid has ever been in the playoffs.

Throughout the exhibition games, LeBron and Steph Curry have still looked like the two best players on the team. Their two-man game has proven to be unstoppable so far and will be the most important partnership going into the Olympics.

Regardless of what Embiid says, LeBron continues to be the most reliable force Team USA has and as long as he is on the roster, they will be the clear favorites to take home the gold.

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