Last year, Noah Lyles’ comment on NBA chip winners being called ‘World Champions’ had sparked reverberations around the league. The entire league had united to call out Lyles’ comment, which he seemed to stand by quite adamantly. Perhaps that was also one of the reasons why Team USA assembled the literal ‘Avengers’ to compete and win the gold medal in the Olympic basketball tournament in Paris.
NBA champions have often been called the World Champions despite the league being based in North America. However, the issue of calling out NBA champions like that can come off as quite a touchy subject, given how the entirety of the league reacted to Lyles’ comments. Though Lyles successfully won a gold medal in the 100m race in the Olympics, many in the NBA, for the first time, wished for one of their countrymen to lose in one of the biggest events of athletics.
One of such individuals was Josh Hart, who was dearly rooting for Lyles to lose in that race. Hart said in an episode of the Roommates Show podcast, “I really wanted him to lose. Damn, I wanted him to lose. I think this is for the first time all of NBA Twitter, and I was just hating.” However, Hart could not keep his hate for Lyles long enough. The six-time World Champion had this stage set up to prove all of his naysayers wrong.
Gilbert Arenas says Noah Lyles’ entitlement brought him hate from American fans
It isn’t just Josh Hart who had such animosity against Noah Lyles. Three-time All-Star Gilbert Arenas believes Lyles’ entitlement brought the entire United States to root against him. He justified his take because many in the country celebrated when Lyles finished third in the 200-meter race.
Despite receiving such massive vitriol from the figures and fans of the NBA, Lyles still rooted for Team USA in the Olympics and was confident LeBron James and co. would bring the gold medal back home.
