NEW YORK -- The Philadelphia 76ers are a team that will deal with a ton of distractions throughout the season. This is a supremely talented roster led by Joel Embiid, LeBron James, Jaylen Brown, and Tyrese Maxey. With names like that, outside noise is bound to happen. It's just the nature of the game.
Recently, broadcaster Mike Breen said on air that Embiid has been late to practice and James has been one to check him. That set off alarms to some before James went on Instagram to squelch it all and coach Nick Nurse went to bat for Embiid.
After a preseason loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, Embiid responded to the report.
"Yeah, it sucked, but what can you do?" said Embiid. "It's unfortunate. I don't know where, I'm sure you can check, I don't know where that
came from. It's never happened. And two, you know, at the end of the day, you know, I don't know. I think we just got to focus on ourselves. There's gonna be a lot of outside noise to kind of pull us apart from what we're supposed to be and what we're supposed to accomplish. So, it's important that we stay together and we keep our head down."
Embiid has dealt with a lot of criticism throughout his career. Whether it was about his weight or the way he conducts himself or whatever the case may be. While Breen did apologize for the report as he stated he believes James if James said it wasn't true, it's still something new for Embiid to deal with.
"One, I had a question that I had. I was like, ‘Why me?’ Those type of things. I can't understand," Embiid finished. "One, it’s not true, but then again, it's like, ‘Why me?’ But then again, I guess I'm Joel Embiid. I've been in that situation. I don't normally talk when it comes to that stuff, so it feels like I'm an easy target. As long as we know who we are and we just gotta stick together."
The Sixers will continue the preseason on Saturday against the Boston Celtics.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: 76ers star Joel Embiid responds to recent report about him at practice
