NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Stephen A Smith recently launched a furious attack at Noah Lyles after he mocked the NBA for calling its players “world champions” after winning an NBA title.
The 26-year-old sprint king questioned NBA's "world champions" title while addressing the media after winning three gold medals at the track and field World Athletics championships in Budapest, Hungary.
“You know what hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have ‘world champion’ on their head,” Lyles said during the press conference.
“World champion of what? The United States?” he asked, before adding, “Don’t get me wrong. I love the US at times. But that ain’t the world. That is not the world - we are the world.”
"That is not the world. We [track and field] are 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,” he continued.
Why did NBA stars slam Noah Lyles?
In his remarks, Lyles was allegedly referring to the “NBA World Champions” caps, along with T-shirts and other merchandise that are printed and displayed on every player from the winning team right after the final whistle.
As expected, several current and former NBA players, including Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Aaron Gordon, were none too pleased with Lyles' comments.
“Somebody help this brother,” Durant said while Booker just responded with a face-palm emoji. "Why bro care so much?" Sacramento Kings star De'Aaron Fox asked on X with a crying, laughing emoji.
Gordon apparently responded to the six-time world champion sprinter by challenging him for a race. “Whatever… I’m smoking buddy in the 200m,” he wrote.
Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo also chimed in, saying, “Lol is somebody going to tell him??”
What did Stephen A Smith say about Noah Lyles’ remarks?
Speaking on ESPN's 'First Take', Smith hit out at Lyles, saying, "One could easily argue that NBA players compete more against international competition than he does."
"First of all, congratulations to your greatness - continue to represent this country the way you did - major props to you," the 55-year-old sports analyst said of Lyles.
"He just came across as flagrantly ignorant. And that needs to be said. The NBA has established itself as a global iconic brand," Smith continued.
The TV personality then gave examples of several international NBA players, stating, "Arguably the best player in the game today - in a lot of people's eyes - is (the Nuggets' Serbian center) Nikola Jokic."
He added, "You have guys from Serbia, Slovenia, the list goes on. Luka Doncic - where's he from? (Slovenia) Giannis Antetokounmpo - where's he from? Greece."
Smith cited certain statistics to bolster his argument. The stats showed that last season there were 120 players from 40 countries and six continents in the NBA, according to the Daily Mail.
Amith said, "And it's increased now. So how is that not global? How is that not the world champion?"
"The best players from around the world descend upon America to join the National Basketball Association," he said, adding, "So Noah Lyles said a very, very, very ignorant comment."
