• American sprinter Noah Lyles blasted the NBA for referring to title-winning teams as ‘world champions’
• Tyrese Haliburton delved into the comment while playing at the FIBA World Cup
• Haliburton questioned why Lyles’ said what he said when the NBA is clearly the best league in the world
Noah Lyles would’ve been hailed as an American hero after winning multiple Gold medals at the World Athletic Championship. Instead, he’s being criticized by the basketball fraternity for his comments against the NBA calling their title-winning teams ‘world champions. Pacers’ guard Tyrese Haliburton explained why people are upset at the statement.
“I really don’t understand the point of it because the NBA is the best league in the world. “It wasn’t the most intelligent response. We’re going to let that fly.”
Tyrese Haliburton shared his thoughts about Noah Lyles’ comments regarding the NBA winners being called “world champions”.
🎥 @SdnaGr pic.twitter.com/HUaX3DfK6D
— George Zakkas (@ZakkasGeorge) August 28, 2023
Lyles wasn’t wrong when he said that the winner of an American league shouldn’t be crowned world champions. Even though everyone understands the NBA is the pinnacle of basketball talent, it’s still a league with 29 American teams and one Canadian team.
Should NBA Champions Be Called World Champions?
Most NBA players think Lyles was out of line for his comments. But when it comes to looking at sports from a macro perspective, we will see that there’s no other league that does this.
The English Premier League for soccer doesn’t crown the league title winners the world champions, they’re crowned national champions. Even if they win a European competition, they’re called European champions, with things like ‘best team in the world’ becoming an honorary tag. We know the best team in Europe will likely beat the best team from every other continent, but nobody refers to them as world champions.
The best cricket league in the world is contested in India, but the winners aren’t declared the best cricket team in the world. Calling NBA Champions the ‘world champions’ is an odd convention, even if it’s technically true that the best team in the NBA will likely be the best team in the world of basketball.
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