Joel Embiid eggs on France crowd after receiving gold medal with Team USA

For the fifth straight Olympics, the United States men's basketball team takes home a gold medal. On Saturday, Team USA defeated France 98-87 in the finals, behind a 24-point performance from Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry.

While the likes of Curry, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James are adding yet another gold medal to their trophy case, there are first-time winners on Team USA. One of them is Philadelphia 76ers star and 2023 NBA MVP Joel Embiid. But there was much vitriol from the Paris crowd towards Embiid, and that's because Embiid chose to play for Team USA instead of France. Embiid holds French citizenship, so fans thought he would join them.

During the medal ceremony, most Team USA stars received rounds of applause, including Curry and James. But once Embiid was next up to receive his gold medal, the French crowd booed the 76ers big man loudly. Embiid egged on the crowd by waving his arms before receiving the medal.

Joel Embiid trolls France crowd while receiving gold medal after Team USA win

Even Embiid's teammates were waving their arms to instigate the crowd to boo more.

Embiid has been egging on the crowds during the Olympics, due in part to him getting booed by them whenever he touched the basketball during a game.

Embiid was born in Cameroon before heading to the United States to play in the NBA. He has citizenship in all three countries. In recent years, Embiid teased at the idea at playing for the French national team in the Olympics. Former NBA player and current general manager of the French national team, Boris Diaw, told The Athletic that Embiid did reach out about playing for them during the 2021-22 NBA season.

“Joel came to us and said that he wanted to play international basketball, he said he wanted to win, and he said he wanted to play for France and he wanted to win with France,” Diaw said. “So we listened to him.”

With that, the French government helped Embiid receive citizenship. While that happened, Embiid opted against playing for France in favor of Team USA.

In the Olympics, Embiid riled up the fans, including using a taunt straight out of the WWE when celebrating a victory. In the gold medal game, Embiid scored four points, all of which were off of free throw shots, hauled in three rebounds, and dished out two assists in 11 minutes of playing time.

During this run to the gold medal, Embiid averaged 11.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 16.8 minutes of playing time.

To the victor go the spoils, and Embiid sure did relish in winning gold after defeating France in Paris.