US sprint star Noah Lyles laughs at NBA players for considering themselves world champs

Everytime an NBA team wins the league, they usually celebrate as ‘world champions’. It doesn’t only happen in U.S. basketball, as MLB and NFL, which are sports that are famously played best in the United States, also consider themselves the global titleholders.

This weekend, American sprint star Noah Lyles conquered three gold medals at the World Championship in Budapest, Hungary, and decided to criticize the fact that U.S. athletes consider themselves world conquerors when they win a domestic tournament.

“I have to 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 U.S. at times, but that ain’t the world. That is not the world,” he said with a laugh.

The athlete had been on a victorious streak these past days, after winning both the 100 and 200-meter sprints. With all this confidence boost, he decided to take a dig at NBA champions.

“We are the world,” he referred to global tournaments like the one being held in Budapest this weekend. “We have almost every country out here fighting, thriving, putting on their flag to show they are represented. There ain’t no flags in the NBA. We gotta do more. We gotta be presented to the world.”

Then on Saturday, Lyles contributed to the Americans victory for the 4×100 relay race, which was the first time the U.S. had swept this competition at the world championships in 16 years.

As these professional runners are preparing themselves for next year’s Paris Olympics, all eyes will be on Lyles after his powerful display in Hungary. If he was to win all three races in France, he would join legends like Carl Lewis, Wilma Rudolph and Jesse Owens, who are the only Americans to achieve this at the world stage.

“I want people to say ‘Wow, this isn’t just a fast guy, he’s a well-rounded guy with a good personality, and I want to follow him for that,’” he said this weekend.

NBA stars all came together to respond to Lyle’s comments, defending the fact that they consider themselves world champions when winning the NBA title

Noah Lyles sure started quite the ruckus this weekend, as the NBA world went into a furious meltdown in response to his remarks.

Kevin Durant led the league player’s point of view as one of the first to state his opinion on the matter. The Phoenix star posted “somebody help this brother” on X, formerly known as Twitter, while Aaron Gordon challenged him to a 200-meter race.

Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and other NBA players respond to Noah Lyles' comments. pic.twitter.com/O1eApkNpFG

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 28, 2023

The reigning NBA champion with the Nuggets got cocky. “Whatever… I’m smoking buddy in the 200m,” said Gordon, who agreed with the overall consensus saying that the spinter’s point was nonsense.

Tyler Herro also took his viewpoint to social media. “The NBA is the best league in the world. That’s why the champs are ‘world champs’,” the Miami player wrote.

Juan-Toscano Anderson concluded, “Last time I checked, the NBA was the best competition in the WORLD.”