US sprint star belittled US basketball league\u2019s fame for not facing global rivals
\nWASHINGTON
\nAmerican NBA stars ripped world sprint king Noah Lyles on social media for comments saying he is offended when teams declare themselves \u201cworld champions\u201d for winning an NBA crown.
\nUS sprint star Lyles won the 100- and 200-meter titles and helped the US 4×100 relay capture gold at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
\nBut Lyles said he is offended when US sports league champions like those in the NBA declare themselves \u201cworld champions\u201d after capturing a crown without facing global rivals.
\n\u201cYou know, the thing that hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have \u2018world champion\u2019 on their head,\u201d Lyles said.
\n\u201cWorld champion of what? The United States?\u201d
\nThe NBA fills rosters with top talent from around the world, and its one franchise outside US borders, the Toronto Raptors, took the NBA crown to Canada in 2019.
\nThe past five NBA Most Valuable Player awards went to players born in other lands \u2013 Greece\u2019s Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2019 and 2020, Serbian center Nikola Jokic of reigning NBA champion Denver in 2021 and 2022 and Joel Embiid of Cameroon this year.
\nNBA players would argue that they compete in the world\u2019s best league and deserve the label of global best.
\n\u201cSomebody help this brother,\u201d wrote Phoenix\u2019s Kevin Durant, a two-time NBA champion and two-time NBA Finals MVP.
\n\u201cWhen being smart goes wrong,\u201d wrote four-time NBA champion forward Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors.
\nDevin Booker of the Phoenix Suns simply posted a facepalm emoji.
\nAnd Aaron Gordon of the reigning champion Denver Nuggets offered a bit of a challenge, writing, \u201cWhatever… I\u2019m smoking buddy in the 200m.\u201d
\nLyles made the point that they only beat other US-based teams or the Raptors, not great squads from around the world.
\n\u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong,\u201d Lyles said. \u201cI love the US \u2013 at times \u2013 but that ain\u2019t 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\u2019t no flags in the NBA.\u201d
\nThe \u201cworld\u201d champion is decided by national teams at the Basketball World Cup, now being contested in Asia with a US squad of NBA players competing for the crown.
\n\u201cWhy bro care so much?\u201d Sacramento Kings All-Star guard De\u2019Aaron Fox asked on social media with a laughing until crying emoji.
\nThe debate went to NBA fans in other sports such as US tennis star Frances Tiafoe, who was asked about the controversy after his victory in a first-round match at the US Open.
\n\u201cTo Noah Lyles, Jesus Christ. Like, I get what he was saying but I don\u2019t get what he was saying. You know what I\u2019m saying?\u201d Tiafoe said. \u201cWhat he said made sense but what he said also did not make sense.
\n\u201cBecause it\u2019s the best league in the world, NBA. You can argue the three, four best players in the NBA are not American at the moment. I mean, so what do you say to that?
\n\u201cThe best foreign players are playing in the NBA. But then on the flip side, yeah, it\u2019s played in the States. So I get both sides, but I\u2019m definitely probably leaning more to all the hoopers\u2019 responses, for sure.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s an issue that doesn\u2019t connect to other US sports leagues as much.
\nMajor League Baseball draws similar comments for its best-of-seven final being called the World Series when no teams from Asian or Latin American leagues can play for the title.
\nThe NFL is generally recognized as world champion largely because American football is played so few other places in the world at that level, even Canada\u2019s league using some key different rules.
\nThe world championships in ice hockey are generally played during the NHL playoffs, with national teams in the global event generally getting NHL talent only after clubs are eliminated from the title chase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US sprint star belittled US basketball league\u2019s fame for not facing global rivals WASHINGTON American NBA stars ripped world sprint king Noah Lyles on social media for comments saying he is offended when teams declare themselves \u201cworld champions\u201d for winning an NBA crown. US sprint star Lyles won the 100- and 200-meter titles and helped […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352606,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-352579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n