Joel Embiid Aiming To Leave LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George Behind

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid says he did not care about the franchise's plans to strengthen the roster with a number of high profile players.

Although they were disappointed to have exited in the second round of the playoffs to the Boston Celtics, the Sixers had an overall successful 2017/18. They finished the regular season as the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference with an impressive 52-30 record, having finished the previous season with a 28-54 record in 14th.

Embiid as well as Rookie of the Year winner Ben Simmons were a big reason for the success, and heading into the summer, the Sixers were said to be on the hunt for a high-profile player to add to an already exciting and promising team.

LeBron James was the prime target, especially as he would go on to opt out of his Cleveland Cavaliers contract to become a free agent. A move to Philly would have made sense as it would keep him in the Eastern Conference and seemingly make the Sixers the outright favorites to reach the NBA Finals.

However, the 33-year-old would go on to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers. Kawhi Leonard was another target, however, with one year remaining on his deal, the San Antonio Spurs were demanding players as well as draft picks. He was eventually traded to the Toronto Raptors.

Paul George was another player who could have significantly strengthened the Sixers but after becoming a free agent, he would surprisingly sign a new four-year deal to return to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Despite the Sixers striking out on their plans to strengthen the team, Embiid claims he did not care as instead, he hopes to be better than the likes of James, Leonard and George.

“When my season ended, there was a lot of talk about adding guys. I literally did not really care because I want to get better,” Embiid said during a conference call Wednesday, as quoted on Philly.com. "I want to be better than those guys that were mentioned, if I’m not already better than them."

Embiid finished the regular season with 22.9 points, 11 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game and is using the offseason to work on his long-range shooting and ball-handling. His hopes are that it will make him a better all-round player capable of becoming an MVP and winning a championship.

"I want to win the MVP," Embiid added. "I feel like at the end of the day it might be an individual award, but when I play better, the team also does. I feel like if I’m an MVP candidate or if I win the MVP, that means we are on another level."

"We won 52 games, which nobody thought would happen, we won 16 games in a row, we thought that we had a chance to go to the Finals. The approach doesn’t change. Still the same. We’re just going to do our thing," he said.