Hours After Kevin Durant and Others Destroyed Noah Lyles’ NBA Take, Ex-Star Speaks on Basketball Outside of the USA: “Bunch of F**king Has-Beens”

Noah Lyles entered a major controversy despite his phenomenal success at the 2023 World Athletics Championships. The tournament witnessed the 26-year-old bag a hattrick of gold medals, winning the men’s 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay. While his glorious run garnered praise from several fans, his wild NBA take had them fuming. His statement triggered several NBA superstars as well, including the likes of Kevin Durant.

Noah Lyles stirred up a fierce debate in the NBA world recently with a bizarre take. Fans and players alike hopped in to put forth their opinions on Lyles’ “World Champions” comment. While some supported his stand, some dismissed it, also berating the track and field athlete on social media. Recently, another NBA star chimed in to share his opinion on the infamous comment.

Ex-NBA star berates Noah Lyles’ take, much like Kevin Durant and Co.

Noah Lyles’ NBA take did not sit well with NBA stars one bit. They unleashed a galore of frustrated comments towards the track and field athlete over the past few days. From ridiculing him to plainly stating his mistake, NBA stars including the Phoenix Suns forward berated the 26-year-old. Now, former Washington Wizards guard, Gilbert Arenas too, joined this trend and shared his opinion on Lyles’ statement.

“The NBA is the best league in the world. The best players gravitate here. The best talent in the world is here.” said Arenas on his podcast. He the brutally berated the 26-year-old, saying “The problem is, dude start off with ‘this is what makes me mad’ like it irritates him that a league sport calls themselves world champs. He’s a individual….he thinks individually…..he’s running for himself….”

After a heated argument with his fellow podcast members, he remarked about basketball outside the United States. “The best player not there because they’re in the NBA. So whoever we’re playing won’t actually have their best player….The team who won the EuroCup, the only NBA player that is from that….he’s in the NBA. So when we play that team, it’s a bunch of f***ing has-beens, a bunch of Americans that’s 38, 39-year-old has-beens that’s playing on the team.” he strongly opined.

Arenas seemed fuming throughout the podcast as he discussed Lyles’ comment. While bashing the 26-year-old citing individualism, he strongly stated the dominance of the NBA over other leagues.

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To his word, despite the money aspect stated by Lou Williams on the podcast, the NBA does house some of the greatest basketball talents in the world. On the other hand, rest of the world’s largest leagues feature ex-NBA stars who become franchise players on their respective rosters. So can other teams of the world compete with NBA sides for the “World Champion” title?

NBA talent is everywhere in the world

Over the years, several NBA players who could not sustain a career in the highly competitive league took their talents to leagues around the world and flourished there. They immediately became franchise players and arguably one of the best players in the entire league. This is testament to the talent possessed by the NBA.

4-time All-Stars, Kemba Walker and DeMarcus Cousins are two such NBA talents who signed into leagues in other countries. Dwight Howard and Eric Bledsoe as well, took their talents to the T1 league in Taiwan. Several such players migrated to other countries to continue their basketball journey, soon becoming the most celebrated players in such leagues.

Given this situation, it is fair to assume that NBA teams have the upper hand on these teams. With superior talent as well as experience, these teams have to potential to easily dominate the world sports spectrum. In fact, the McDonald’s Championship back in the 1990s stood testimony of this idea as well.

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Whether or not NBA teams ever take on international clubs, the tag is not going anywhere in the near future. The long-standing tradition of crowning NBA championships “World Champions” will most certainly , despite the recent drama surrounding it.