By Yaw Adjei-Mintah
@ YawMintYM on Twitter
Cameroon has named Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute in its 30-man preliminary list for this year’s AfroBasket Championship.
The competition will be held in the Republic of Congo’s capital, Brazzaville between August 17 and 31.
All three play in the NBA with Embiid on the books of Philadelphia Sixers, Siakam for Toronto Raptors and Mbah a Moute for Los Angeles Clippers and headline a Cameroonian side that yearns to impress like its football counterparts.
Embiid has been in fantastic form this season-his first after sitting out two previous seasons to injury- and is a firm favorite to win Rookie of the Year in the league. The 7 foot 2inch Center is averaging 20.2 points and 7.8 rebounds despite playing just 25.4 minutes.
Fellow first year countryman Siakam is biding his time in Toronto’s frontcourt as he averages 4.4 points and 3.5 rebounds in 17 minutes for the Raptors and Mbah a Moute is regarded as one of the best NBA wing defenders.
However, all three are bound to miss the qualifiers which take place in March due to the ongoing NBA season but can be available for selection if Cameroon qualifies for the main competition.
