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Joel Embiid admits LeBron James concerns heading into Olympics amid fear that USA teammate is 'not the same' player at 39
The American men's basketball team will enter the Paris Olympics as the heavy favorites to win a fifth-straight Gold medal.
However, the globalization of the game has made that throne more susceptible to new kings than the previous four Summer Olympiads. Newly minted US star Joel Embiid may know that better than anyone.
Embiid committed to playing for the United States at the Olympics last year over France and Cameroon, but he knows his first mega stage for the national team does not guarantee him a Gold medal, with him pointing to LeBron James' age as a microcosm of why America won't walk to a first-place finish.
The average age of Team USA is just under 31, with half the roster 30 or older. James is the oldest member of the team, turning 40 in December.
There is no better sign of the turbulence Team USA could face in Paris than Sunday's 101-100 win over South Sudan, where the Americans needed a layup from James with under 10 seconds to go to win the game.
Joel Embiid will star for the heavy favorites, Team USA, at the Paris Olympics in basketball
Embiid has also raised a few red flags about the age of some Team USA stars, including James
The Americans trailed South Sudan by double-digits for long stretches of the game.
'You look at the talent that the U.S. has, but there’s equal talent on other teams,' Embiid told the New York Times. '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,' Embiid said. '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,' Embiid concluded.
The United States will play South Sudan again in Paris, alongside Puerto Rico and Serbia in Group C.