Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid denied a report that LeBron James criticized him for arriving late to practice. Embiid spoke after making his preseason debut in Thursday night's 114-108 loss to the Brooklyn Nets.

"It sucks, but what can you do?" said Embiid. "It's unfortunate. I don't know where that came from. It never happened. ... I think we just got to focus on ourselves. There's going to be a lot of outside noise to 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."

Mike Breen shared the story during Monday's preseason opener on MSG Networks. James called the report lies on Instagram the following day, and Breen later apologized.

Embiid questioned why he was the subject of the story.

"Those type of things, I can't understand," said Embiid. "One, it is not true, but then again, it's like, 'Why me?' ... I guess I'm Joel Embiid. I've been in that situation. I don't usually talk when it comes to those [rumors]. So, it feels like I'm an easy target.

"But yeah, as long as we know who we are [we will be OK] and we just got to stick together."

Embiid struggled in his first game action of the preseason, shooting 1-for-5 from the floor with three rebounds, three assists and eight turnovers in 24 minutes.

He said he typically needs a few games to find his rhythm. Embiid added that he must do a better job of protecting the ball.