American sprinter Noah Lyles went viral last summer with his comments about using the term “world champion” to describe the winner of the NBA Finals.
“You know what hurts me the most is having to watch the NBA Finals and seeing players wearing the word ‘World Champion’ on their heads,” Lyles said last summer. “World Champion of what? Of the United States? Don’t get me wrong, I love the United States sometimes, but it’s not the world. It’s not the world. We are the world. Almost every country is struggling, thriving, flying their flag to show that they’re represented. There’s no flag in the NBA.”
“You know, what hurts me the most is having to watch the NBA Finals and having the word ‘world champion’ over my head. World champion of what? Of the United States?”
—Noah Lyles on the difficulty of winning a world title in athletics pic.twitter.com/rvb1np3KPb
— ESPN (@espn) August 27, 2023
Competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Lyles was back in the spotlight. While Lyles won a gold medal in the 100 meters and a bronze in the 200 meters, the U.S. men’s basketball team went undefeated en route to a gold medal.
The announcement reignited the debate over the title of “world champion,” which always focuses on the level of international talent in the NBA. Among them is arguably the league’s best player, Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic.
When asked on Night Cap if Jokic was one of the best players in the world, Lyles said, “I’ll be honest, I don’t know who that is.”
Shannon Sharpe: “Is Nikola Jokic one of the best players in the world?”
Noah Lyles: “I’ll be honest, I don’t know who that is”
🤔 Interesting. pic.twitter.com/i4VZI3V2ZO
— Jérémy Nicolls (@JeremyNicolls) August 18, 2024
Lyles faced backlash from fans over his comments, with many saying that if he doesn’t know Jokic, who just led Serbia to a bronze medal after winning the NBA MVP award, then he clearly doesn’t understand the level of international talent in the league.
Noah Lyles tried to say the NBA didn’t deserve the world championship title, then went on to not know arguably the most popular international player, typical https://t.co/u8PZaeMROj
— Jacob Moreno (@jmoreno76ers) August 18, 2024
This is the most common argument, with NBA fans saying there’s no reason to listen to Lyles if he doesn’t know arguably the best player in the league.
why the NBA community listens to everything he says https://t.co/9Wgg3fYim7
— Nuggets Lead (@NuggetsLead) August 19, 2024
With Jokic being Serbian and arguably the best player in the NBA, basketball fans feel that Lyles’ lack of knowledge about the Nuggets star invalidates his argument.
and that’s why i never took anyone seriously who tried to argue his point of view lol just say you don’t know basketball or how the NBA works https://t.co/K6vAPeGyQd
— niles (@NILES100) August 18, 2024
There are hundreds of comments like these in response to Lyles’ statement about Jokic.
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