It is a rare occurrence for the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the United States of America Track and Field (USATF) worlds to converge, however Noah Lyles was able to do this by making a controversial statement after a track and field win.
In the week of August 28, 2023 Noah Lyles would compete and win the triple gold at the 2023 World Championships for track and field, winning the 100, 200, and 4×100 relay race. This is quite impressive as it has not been achieved since Usain Bolt competed back in 2016. After this amazing performance he would be interviewed and asked how he felt to be considered a world champion. Lyles would respond saying that some leagues such as the NBA consider themselves world champions when they are exclusive to only the United States. He would also say “but that isn’t 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.”
This isn’t something that has just been brought up recently though, as many argue that to be considered the best in the world, you should beat the rest of the world. Even US coaches such as Greg Popovich, president for the San Antonio Spurs stated, “it doesn’t make sense for an NBA team to call themselves world champions. I don’t remember anybody playing anyone outside our borders to get that tag.” Current and Past NBA players however didn’t agree with Lyles statement however as players such as Kevin Durant and Devin Booker would comment under the interview saying things like “somebody help this brother,” and “put his brain in a bird and the bird will start flying backwards!”
Many players are in agreement that the team that wins the NBA finals should be considered the world champions. Although this could seem like a stretch, they aren’t wrong to some degree. In most sports, in order to be given the world champion title, you would have to win on a world scale, such as the World Cup or the Olympics. Basketball however, could have a different standard as it is widely known that the NBA is the best basketball league in the world. For example, most countries have their best players go to the US or Canada to play in the NBA. Even this past 2022-2023 NBA season, six of the eight MVP candidates were international players displaying the diversity in the league.
