ANKARA

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid will play for Team USA at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the reigning MVP confirmed on Thursday.

"I'm really proud and excited about this decision. It was not easy. I am blessed to call Cameroon, France, and the USA home. After talking to my family, I knew it had to be Team USA," Embiid, a 6-time NBA All-Star, said on X.

Embiid was born in Cameroon, and he has Cameroonian, French, and US nationalities.

He was granted French citizenship in 2022.

Embiid was schooled in the US and has spent his entire basketball career there.

"I want to play with my brothers in the league. I want to play for my fans because they've been incredible since the day I came here. But most of all, I want to honor my son who was born in the US. I want my boy to know I played my first Olympics for him," the 29-year-old Sixers center added.

Embiid, a long-time 76ers member, was named the 2022-23 NBA regular season's Most Valuable Player (MVP) in May, beating finalists Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks) in voting.

He won the prestigious award for the first time in his career.

Paris 2024 Olympic Games will be held from July 26 to Aug. 11.

After securing their status as one of the top two teams in the Americas at the 2023 FIBA World Cup, Team USA directly qualified for the Paris 2024.

Team USA had 19 Olympic appearances to win 16 gold medals in history, the last at Tokyo 2020 held in 2021 for the coronavirus pandemic.