American NBA stars ripped sprint king Noah Lyles for saying he is offended when teams declare themselves "world champions" for winning an NBA crown.
Lyles won the 100 meters and 200m before helping the US capture the 4x100m relay gold medal at the world athletics championships in Budapest.
He said he is offended when US sports league champions like those in the NBA declare themselves "world champions" after winning a crown without facing global rivals.
"The thing that hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have 'world champion' on their head," Lyles said. "World champion of what? The United States?"
The NBA fills rosters with top talent from around the world, and its one franchise outside US borders, the Toronto Raptors, took the crown to Canada in 2019. The league's past five Most Valuable Player awards went to foreigners - Greece's Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2019 and 2020, Serbian center Nikola Jokic in 2021 and 2022 and Cameroon's Joel Embiid this year.
NBA players would argue that they compete in the world's best league and deserve the label of global best.
"Somebody help this brother," Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant, a two-time NBA champion and twice Finals MVP, wrote on social media.
"When being smart goes wrong," said four-time champ Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors.
Devin Booker of the Suns posted a facepalm emoji.
Lyles made the point that they only beat other US-based teams or the Raptors, not great squads from around the world.
"Don't get me wrong," Lyles said in Budapest. "I love the US but that ain't the world. We are the world. We have almost every country out here fighting, thriving, putting on their flag ... There ain't no flags in the NBA."
The "world" champion is decided by national teams at the Basketball World Cup, now being contested in Asia with a US squad of NBA players competing.
"Why bro care so much?" the Sacramento Kings' all-star guard De'Aaron Fox asked on social media with a laughing until crying emoji.
The debate went to NBA fans in other sports such as US tennis star Frances Tiafoe, who told an interviewer: "What he said made sense but what he said also did not make sense."
Tiafoe added he was siding with the players "because it's the best league in the world ... the best foreign players are playing in the NBA."
Noah Lyles' comments upset Kevin Durant, far left, and Draymond Green. REUTERS, AP, AFP
