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[Saba Sports News] Joel Embiid is known for his candid responses, and his recent interview with David Marchese of the New York Times was no exception.
In the wide-ranging discussion, Embiid, who is playing for Team USA at the Olympics, was asked about the U.S. team’s chances of winning the gold medal. His comments included a specific mention of teammate LeBron James.
“You look at the talent that the U.S. has, but there’s equal talent on other teams,” Embiid said. “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,” Embiid continued. “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.”
Embiid’s remarks about James, who will turn 40 later this year, were blunt. Instead of simply expressing confidence in Team USA, Embiid highlighted James’ age and implied decline without mentioning other older players on the roster, such as Steph Curry (36), Kevin Durant (35), and Jrue Holiday (34), or the younger talent like Jayson Tatum (26), Tyrese Haliburton (24), and Anthony Edwards (22).
This could be Embiid’s way of tempering expectations for Team USA, as he has struggled in early exhibition games and recently responded to critics of his international play.