NBA Players Rally To Slam Noah Lyles Over “World Champion” Comments

Track star Noah Lyles caught some slack from several athletes after questioning NBA star’s “world champion” titles. 

The controversy arrives as Lyles revels in his iconic victory last week in Budapest, Hungary. He beat out his fellow runners in multiple competitions at the World Athletics Championships, including 100 and 200-meter races. In total, he won three gold medals, becoming the world’s number-one ranked 200-meter sprinter. However, on Monday, he gained the wrong type of attention when he questioned whether or not NBA players were actually “world champions.”

“I watch the NBA finals, and they have ‘world champion’ on their head. World champion of what? The United States? Don’t get me wrong. I love the US at times, but that ain’t the world. We are the world. We have almost every country out here fighting, thriving, putting on their flag to show that they are represented. There ain’t no flags in the NBA,” Lyles boldly shared in his post-race press conference. 

This ignited an intense response from several NBA pros, including Kevin Durant, who commented on the video when it began to circulate online. “Somebody help this brother,” KD said while Damian Lillard commented “TF” with laughing emojis. Free agent Juan Toscano-Anderson also chimed in, writing, “Last time I checked, the NBA was the best competition in the WORLD.” 

Damn bro got jumped by the whole league😭😭 https://t.co/bt0ugjQB6g pic.twitter.com/L34aPnt42X

— ²³𝙻𝚎𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚜🏀☄️🌎💞 (@BronGotGame) August 28, 2023

Drake also got in on the backlash, commenting on Akademik’s post about Lyles, sharing, “He thought this speech was gonna be so hard in the mirror the night before…now the whole league doesn’t rate u,” with several laughing emojis. 

Even Drake clowning him😭 Bro put a bounty on his head pic.twitter.com/0fTxxKFBBb

— ²³𝙻𝚎𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚜🏀☄️🌎💞 (@BronGotGame) August 28, 2023

Lyles has not expounded on his comments yet, but fans will indeed be waiting to see how he fires back at his many famous critics.