Last year, after creating history in the Budapest World Athletics championships, Noah Lyles took on the NBA players. Their “world champion” title did not sit well with him. The treble winner in Budapest openly stated that they did not deserve that since the NBA leagues didn’t accommodate a vast background as the track and field do.

So Noah Lyles commented, “You know what hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have ‘world champion’ on their head. World champion of what? The United States?” Almost a year later, Noah Lyles still stands firm on his comment, despite facing a lot of heat back then. Rather, he has just gone one step extra this time.

In another bold statement, he recently called the annoyed NBA bigwigs “whiny babies”. Notably, after Noah Lyles’ jibe last year, NBA legends like Kevin Durant and Draymond Green had put their displeasure forward by claiming that the leagues come from a diverse background, not just with the players of American origin only. But those rebuttals evidently couldn’t change Noah’s thoughts.

This time, in an interview with Dazed Digital, he said, “I thought it was funny!…It was just a bunch of whiny babies getting mad because I said they don’t compete on a world level. Everyone was in such a tizzy!” A response to this has yet to come from the NBA camps. But the NBA legends might not keep mum after another fireball coming from the 6-time world champion, just like the last time.

On the previous occasion, Kevin Durant, the three-time Olympic gold medalist and an MVP from the NBA, had his riposte ready for Noah as he quoted: “Somebody help this brother.” Another Olympic gold medalist NBA homebody Devin Booker extended his support for KD, backing the “world champion” status of NBA players. But what’s the truth behind having such a huge tag?

The common logic comes as, despite being based in the USA and Canada only, the NBA leagues hold a huge number of players coming from different nationalities. Players like Nikola Jokić and Giannis Antetokounmpo are testaments to this. The Serbian Nikola and Greek Giannis play against each other in the leagues while earning titles. Furthermore, the leagues have a support base that goes to countries. But against this, Noah Lyles has his logic.

While representing his country in the world championships, Noah Lyles takes pride in holding his country’s flag. But, this is absent in the NBA finals. Considering that, the Tokyo Olympic medalist said, “There ain’t no flags in the NBA,” showing his love for his country. Nonetheless, Noah Lyles has had to face harsh criticisms because of such comments. But he has also received support to call out the stakes. Interestingly, apart from track and field, that support came from the NBA realm itself.

Noah Lyles enjoys the support from the legends 

Noah got one of the most vocal advocates by his side in this debate. Sha’Carri Richardson made no bones while coming out openly in support of Noah. “I am standing with Noah on this one! The organization have players from different countries but do they compete against different countries. You have to go against the world in order to be a world champion!” SCR had stated back then. Amid that, NBA stars’ ire was severely diluted when their very own prodigy lent his voice to Noah.

Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks had shown his support for Noah Lyles for saying the reality. Coming from Greece, Giannis represents the diverse background of NBA leagues. But that does not make the contests ‘the world’, as the poster boy claimed.

Rather, Giannis asserted, “At the end of the day, in order to be the world champ, you’ve got to beat the world. I understand the NBA is the best league in the world and the talent in the NBA is the best you’ll ever see in your life. It’s not even close, it’s the best league in the world, but we cannot say you’re the world champ because you’re playing in the best league in the world.” Furthermore, Noah Lyles’ words had once been echoed in a Hall of Famer’s voice.

In an interview with The Boston Herald in 2010, the Hall of Famer NBA coach Gregg Popovich conceded the exact thing. The coach had argued, “There are no world champions in the NBA, so anybody that has the flag up that says world champions is not correct. It’s not appropriate.” Rather, he segregated the teams based on their achievements in the level they played, such as the Olympic level or NBA level. However, Noah Lyles’ comment might raise several eyebrows again. But at the same time, the athlete might take solace in thinking that he has his support ready.