‘He was just stating the obvious, not the NBA world’: Giannis Antetokounmpo backs Noah Lyles

Debate has reignited over statements by athlete Noah Lyles, in which he questioned the validity of calling winners in leagues like the NBA “world champions.”

“I want to watch the NBA Finals and see how they are called world champions. What world champion?… America? Don’t get me wrong. “I love America sometimes, but we are not the world.”.

Noah Lyles Performed a historic performance in World Athletics Championships 2023 in BudapestHe won three golds in speed trials.

The athlete positioned himself 100m, 200m and 4×100 relay championBut his words didn’t stop there as he promised:

“Here we are the world. Almost every country is fighting among themselves, fighting to win, using their flags to show that they are represented. There are no flags in the NBA. We have to do more. We have to represent the world.”.

After this, Lyles came under a lot of criticism from NBA players; But star Milwaukee Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo He endorsed those words during a 48-minute podcast where he was invited.

“I wanted to support him. He received negative criticism for saying what many people knew was obvious, but some people didn’t understand. It could just be arrogance..

The Greek basketball player continued: “How to say this nicely. I believe that no one considers themselves a ‘world champion’ in any sport. For example in football, it is much bigger and popular than NBA. The Champions League winner is not considered a world champion; They say ‘UEFA Champions League Champions’. If you win the World Cup against America or any country you touch in this world, you can say you are the world champion..

Also quoted Emanuel Ginobililegend San Antonio Spurs:

“Manu Ginobili once said… I don’t know what to say. When Argentina won the World Cup in 2006 (although Giannis was wrong here, he may have been referring to the 2004 gold medal in Athens) Manu said: ‘I’m the world champion, you’re the NBA champions. But I beat Greece, USA, Spain and Brazil so I am world champion. I’m the world champion.’ I agree, at the end of the day you have to win the world as the world champion.”He finished.