A month ago, Noah Lyles put the American sports world on blast after claiming the NBA champions don’t get to call themselves ‘World Champions.’ But Lyles’ comments cut deeper beyond the surface of the NBA to how Americans view sports in general.
In August, Noah Lyles won the ‘Triple Crown’ of sprinting at the Budapest Track and Field World Championships. The American became the first man to win the gold in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay at worlds since Usain Bolt in 2015.
After earning his title of ‘fastest man in the world, ‘ Lyles expressed his frustration with the sports world in his post-race interview.
“You know, the thing that hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals, and they have ‘world champion’ on their head.”
After a pause, the 26-year-old asked the sea of reporters, “World Champion of what? The United States?”
As one can imagine, many NBA players took offense to Lyles’ remarks.
The internet, particularly NBA Twitter (I refuse to call that platform ‘X’), also became a battleground for debate.
What constitutes a world champion? Does the NBA need to field its winner against other domestic league champs across the globe to rightfully claim world supremacy? Isn’t the reality of the NBA having the best of the best enough reason to claim such a title?
People have asked these questions over and over again throughout the past few weeks. However, one constant in these debates is that most foreigners support Lyles.
From NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo to a regular Twitter user from across the pond, they agree that you must beat the ‘world’ to be a ‘world champ.’
I’m not here to debate either side; YouTuber JxmyHighroller does a fantastic job discussing both sides here.
But I will talk about the problem with American sports that Lyles’s controversy shed light on — American Entitlement.
‘Muricans believe that their country and they are the best — at everything, and we are invincible — regardless of what the facts say. This belief is no different when it comes to sports.
Football: We take so much pride in being the best at a sport virtually nobody else on Earth plays (I am vehemently against calling the Super Bowl winners world champions). The World Baseball Classic and the Women’s World Cup gave the US souring defeats in areas we are ‘supposed’ to dominate.
Although Lyles’ comments about the NBA are technically about club competitions, the international sports world used them as ammunition against the Men’s FIBA World Cup team’s loss in the semi-finals and subsequent bronze-medal games.
The US has a dominant history in international basketball competitions, but occasionally, we field a lazy, star-ridden roster that barely competes and flames out. This year’s rendition is one of those times.
We classify them as the ‘C’ or ‘D’ teams and use that as an excuse not to hang our heads and medal-less necks in defeat. But really, it’s just American arrogance getting in the way of success.
Other nations give their everything to compete in these competitions. A massive crowd welcomed Latvian players home after finishing fifth in the tournament. South Sudan had to practice outdoors in previous years due to a lack of resources and clawed their way to competing in next year’s Olympic games.
And the US can’t even bother to send their B team to go and dominate.
Basketball is a global game, and the world is slowly catching up. We have no choice but to send an MVP-laden roster dubbed ‘The Avengers’ to Paris next summer, all to reclaim our glory and earn the title of ‘World Champion.’
The problem is, if we are as good as we say, why can’t we care enough to do it consistently?
Lyles being correct or incorrect doesn’t matter. But he does show how little respect America gives to the rest of the sports world, and I believe that’s a microcosm of how little we respect the rest of the real world. And that’s an issue far greater than the final score of a basketball game.