What a ride it was for Joel Embiid and Team USA during their Olympic journey.
After overcoming Serbia with a miraculous fourth-quarter finish, Team USA took on the hosting French National Team. Featuring such notable NBA talent as Victor Wembanyama—considered by many to be the future face of the league, four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert, former Sixer and role player extraordinaire Nico Batum, and many more, France was no team to take lightly, especially with the home crowd thoroughly on their side.
Behind incredible efforts by Steph Curry and LeBron James, Team USA sealed the victory and took home the gold for the fifth straight Olympic games.
With this victory, Joel Embiid has accomplished something no other player for Philadelphia has, becoming the first Sixers player to ever win a gold medal for Team USA.
Considering the rich history of stars the Sixers have boasted over their many years, that sounds shocking at first. Looking at the full picture, the image becomes clearer and arguably even more special of an accomplishment for Embiid.
Quite a few players who have, at one time or another, suited up for the Sixers have won gold. That list includes Charles Barkley (1992 and 1996), Andre Iguodala (2012), James Harden (2012), Jimmy Butler (2016), Kyle Lowry (2016), DeAndre Jordan (2016), Jerami Grant (2020), Jrue Holiday (2020 and 2024), and JaVale McGee (2020).
Barkley and Iguodala are particularly interesting names as both players played for Philadelphia during the previous season, narrowing missing out on being Sixers who had won gold.
Barkley was notably traded to the Phoenix Suns two months before the 1992 Olympic games in a deal that has since gone down as one of the worst deals for Philadelphia in the franchise’s history. Barkley would go on to win gold against Croatia in 1992 and then was the NBA’s MVP the following season. He would win gold yet again against Yugoslavia in 1996, two weeks before being traded by the Suns to the Houston Rockets.
Andre Iguodala came even closer as he was a mere two days away from becoming the first Sixer to win a gold medal. On Aug. 10, 2012, Iguodala was traded in the now infamous Andrew Bynum trade. Philadelphia had moved off of Iguodala, believing they had landed a superstar center. As it would turn out, they would be forced to wait two more years for that player, who turned out to be Joel Embiid instead of Bynum. Iguodala and Team USA would take home the gold medal on Aug. 12, 2012, with a win over Spain.
Call it poor timing, call it fate, call it what you will. Joel Embiid is now the only Sixers to win a gold medal, and now has just one more unique accolade he needs to add to the collection: a championship, the first championship for the Sixers in over 40 years.
The celebration has begun for Joel Embiid and Team USA, deservedly so, but with training camp less than a couple of months away, Embiid must balance that celebration with resolve. He’s tasted winning at the highest level, arguably. He has also had to adjust his game to fit alongside so much talent; he now has to carry over those lessons to the upcoming NBA season.
Time will tell if he is both willing and able.
