76ers' Joel Embiid: 'I Don't Care' to Pad Stats amid NBA MVP Race with Jokić, Giannis

Joel Embiid has no plans on padding his stats to ensure an MVP victory.

The NBA's leading scorer told Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium that he's focused on winning a championship above all else.

"I don't care. I think mentally I've gotten to a different level where it's all about winning," Embiid said. "What matters—it's just about winning, winning, winning. I've been focused on that. We've been doing that. Whatever happens, happens. If I win MVP, good. If I don't, it's fine with me."

Embiid pointed to March 22's game against the Chicago Bulls as prime evidence of his lack of focus on individual stats. The Philadelphia 76ers star came into the game with 10 straight 30-point games but instead played just 16 minutes in a 116-91 blowout victory.

Sixers coach Doc Rivers said Embiid was dealing with calf tightness.

"We had a lead, felt like we could hold it," Rivers told reporters. "And whenever you hear 'calf,' you just say, 'That's it.'"

Embiid has played in Philadelphia's last two games and has shown no signs of being hampered by the injury.

The 2022-23 MVP race has been the ugliest in recent memory despite neither Embiid nor Nikola Jokić engaging publicly. Most of the argument has been waged on social media or national television, with pundits pushing increasingly personal narratives.

ESPN's Kendrick Perkins made an insidious—and later corrected—point about Jokić's whiteness being a factor in his favor. Perkins falsely claimed 80 percent of NBA awards voters are white, forcing ESPN to issue a retraction of that point on air.

"I think this year unfortunately has just taken a really ugly, nasty turn in the MVP conversation, and I think it's really turned a lot of people off, including [Jokić]," Nuggets coach Michael Malone told reporters Wednesday.

Embiid finished second behind Jokić in the MVP balloting each of the previous two seasons. If Jokić wins his third straight MVP, he will be the first player since Larry Bird to win the award in three consecutive seasons.