As the Team USA men's basketball players gathered to watch Noah Lyles take victory in the 100-meter Olympic finals race in Paris, this brought attention to the gold medal winner's comments of NBA champions being considered 'world champs.'
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That is to say, as some might remember last year, after also winning the 2023 world championships 100 m final, Lyles took to the podium to air out his thoughts, about how the NBA teams refer to themselves, "World champion of what? The United States?"
“World champion of what? The United States?”
Track and Field star Noah Lyles on NBA champs calling themselves World Champs.
(via @eurosport) pic.twitter.com/do1WC2vdYb
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 27, 2023
This drew backlash from NBA players, as some noted that the best basketball players in the world play in the NBA. On the other hand, others acknowledged that they are not playing against other countries, so technically world champs is subjective.
Devin Booker, who witnessed Lyles take home the gold at the Stade de France Sunday night, congratulated the track star, but at the same time reiterated that he disagreed with his comments from last year.
"I still don't agree with [Lyles'] comment," Booker told The Athletic. "I feel like all the best talent in the world is in the NBA, and this is coming from an Olympic gold medalist [who believes] that being an NBA champion is probably harder to do."
All in all, the U.S. men's basketball team will now attempt to win an Olympic gold in Paris like their other Team USA athlete Lyles was able to to do.
"It was crazy," Booker said after witnessing his fellow countryman win the 100-meter race. "I mean, it was great for America. Congrats to him."
To note, Lyles won the highly anticipated Olympic race with a photo finish time of 9.784 seconds while his Jamaican opponent Kishane Thompson only lost by .005 seconds (9.789).
Five THOUSANDTHS of a second to decide the Olympic 100m champion!!! #ParisOlympics
9.79(.784)🥇🇺🇸Noah Lyles (PB)
9.79(.789)🥈🇯🇲Kishane Thompson
9.81🥉🇺🇸Fred Kerley (SB) pic.twitter.com/avGk7W16Ue— Travis Miller (@travismillerx13) August 4, 2024
Team USA will face-off with Serbia Thursday, August 8 at 3:00 pm ET in a semi-final matchup that will include the Americans going up against Nikola Jokic, who along with his Denver Nuggets teammates were considered world champs after winning the 2023 NBA Finals, which incited Lyles' original comments.
Related: EuroLeague Head Coach Calls Out Boston Celtics For World Champion Title: 'Come Beat Us'
