Sprint star Noah Lyles questioned why NBA champions are called “world champs” and immediately got dragged by almost the entire NBA payroll.
Source: Hannah Peters / Getty
During the World Athletics Championships, Noah Lyles put on an epic performance taking the gold in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay. By all means he is the definition of a superior athlete and the Crème de la crème in his sport. Despite his accomplishments, you may not know him like you would LeBron James, Odell Beckham Jr., or Tiger Woods.
After winning his third gold the track star used the post-race press conference and his biggest moment to shade the National Basketball Association.
“I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have world champion on their heads. 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…. We are the world. We have almost every country out here fighting and thriving and putting on a flag to show that they are represented. There ain’t no flags in the NBA.”
Despite some people seeing the track star’s point, others including several NBA players thought his comments were distasteful and they jumped into comments sections across the Internet to fry him.
Despite not being an athlete, Drake even got in on in responding too.
“Somebody help this brother,” wrote Kevin Durant while his Phoenix Suns teammate Devin Booker responded with a facepalm emoji.
“Whatever … I’m smoking buddy in the 200m.”- said current NBA Champ Aaron Gordon.
“He thought this speech was gonna be so hard in the mirror the night before…now the whole league doesn’t rate u,” – wrote Drake under DJ Akademiks Post.
Damian Lillard simply wrote, “Tf,” followed by two laughing emojis and “when being smart goes wrong 🤦🏿♂️,” joked Draymond Green.
Lyles using his big moment to shade the NBA is certainly a choice. However, in an era of clout-chasers and attention-seekers, we shouldn’t be surprised. Before the comments, he was an elite athlete who wasn’t widely known and afterward has garnered more press and attention than simply winning would have ever done.
