After Philadelphia 76ers centre Joel Embiid finally achieved his dream of becoming the NBA’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) earlier this month, he said he wanted to inspire people across his native Cameroon and the wider continent. “I have always felt like I was a role model, especially to my Cameroonian and African people,” he told reporters. Embiid’s MVP title triumph means the player who left Cameroon in 2012 to pursue basketball in the US is just the second African to have been awarded the distinction after Nigeria’s Hakeem Olajuwon in 1994. The achievement highlights Cameroon’s success in the NBA. At the same time, the Cameroon national side has underperformed and it seems unlikely that Embiid will play for the Indomitable Lions.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA