Giannis Antetokounmpo's first words on Noah Lyles and NBA 'world champions' row
Giannis Antetokounmpo took a different approach to Noah Lyles’ NBA ‘world champions’ comments.
Last month the American sprinter was critical of the assumption that the team who wins the NBA championship can call themselves champions of the world. "You know what hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have 'world champion' on their head. World champion of what? The United States?" Lyles said, responding to a question after winning the 200m at the World Athletics Championships in August.
"Don't get me wrong. I love the U.S., at times, but that ain't the world. That is not the world. We 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.” It didn't take long for those in the NBA to respond, with the likes of Kevin Durant, his Phoenix Suns teammate Devin Booker and top sports analyst Stephen A. Smith all expressing their displeasure with Lyles’ point of view.
But 2021 NBA champion and Finals MVP Antetokounmpo, 28, took an opposing view and agreed with the athletics star’s comments — while also issuing a slight dig at the NBA. “I wanted to back him up so bad. He received so much backlash for stating the obvious,” the Milwaukee Bucks star said on the "48 Minutes" podcast.
“I don’t think in any other sport you’re called the world champions. In soccer, which is way bigger than the NBA and more popular than the NBA, the UEFA Champions League champions don’t say they’re world champions. When they win the World Cup, they play against the USA team, they play against the teams around the world, you know, countries around the world, then they say world champs."
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Antetokounmpo also explained, "The NBA is the best league in the world and the talent in the NBA is the best that you will ever see in your life. It's not even close," he said before adding: "You know, I don't say that there's other teams out there that they can beat the Denver Nuggets, for example. I'm not saying that.
“But you're gonna have to respect, you know, those teams and say, 'Yeah, I'm the NBA champ, I'm the VTB champ [in Russia], I'm the EuroLeague champ, I'm the Greek champ, I'm the Spanish champ, I'm the French league champ." After winning the 200m at the Diamond League meeting in Switzerland at the end of August, Lyles was unphased by the criticism and actually doubled down on his comments.
The sprinter said those who win the NBA can't be considered world champions (Twitter/@Cathal_Dennehy)"To be honest, I'm just glad we're having the conversation," he said. "It's been underlying for so long but no one really wanted to talk about it. With everybody actually saying things about it, now you have dialogue.
"Of course, maybe there will be opinions that will change and maybe there won't, but at least we're having the conversation. It's funny, you look at my comments, you'll have people in the U.S. versus the world.
"Everyone in the world is very much on my side and the U.S. is usually leaning towards the opinion of the NBA. But that just goes to show how we view ourselves in the U.S. and I'm just glad we're having the conversation."
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