While everyone looked forward to the number of gold medals won by their country, a few sports fans anticipated something else in the Paris Olympics. Hint: Noah Lyles’ explosive statement from the 2023 World Athletics Championship. Yes! you guessed it right. It was about the cat-and-mouse game between Noah Lyles and Team USA Basketball. While there isn’t a winner for the clash as both won the gold medal, there’s another way to determine it. Nevertheless, Kevin Durant had already found a way to get back at Lyles.

Well, it all began last year when Noah Lyles (‘The world’s fastest man) took a jab at the NBA champions. He stated that it “hurt” when NBA champions called themselves ‘World Champions’ and declared those track and field athletes who competed against the different countries as world champions. Moreover, Lyles added this infamous line, “World champion of what? The United States? 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.”

Following that, the US sports world was filled with overflowing opinions. While some agreed with the star athletes’ take, many stood against it, including NBA superstars. Notably, Kevin Durant wrote, “Somebody help this brother,” attacking Lyles. As a result of the polarizing opinions, everyone anticipated the 2024 Paris Olympics, where the ballers and track athletes came under the same roof. More than winning the gold for the country, the players had a lot to prove themselves. The bottom line is this controversy triggered a historic explosion in viewership numbers. Let’s find out which event had more viewership. Noah Lyles or the USA basketball? Above track and field isn’t only about Lyles, there are other big names like Suni Lee and Bobby Finke.

Team USAB vs Noah Lyles: Who won the viewership battle?

Well, everyone must have guessed it right. The winner is undoubtedly Team USA basketball. Apart from the controversy with Noah Lyles, there’s another reason that made the audience glued to the television sets. It’s none other than the Avengers. LeBron James put together a super team for one last time to seek redemption for the 2023 FIBA WC misery. Interestingly, the redemption story also has an indirect link to Lyles. The star athlete’s controversial statement came out after Team USA crashed out of the basketball World Cup without winning a single medal.

Given the anticipation for the basketball side, the finals between the US side and France became the most-watched gold medal event since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. According to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, the game had the highest live audience of 22.7 million during the final moments of the fourth quarter. On the other hand, this game became the most streamed event in the Paris Olympics, with an average viewership of 2.7 million per minute, as per NBC Sports. Clearly, we have a winner in the contest.

On the other hand, the US track and field section didn’t go without a fight. Thanks to Noah Lyles. On the day of Noah Lyles’s 100-meter gold medal event, streaming platforms witnessed the second-highest US total viewership of 35 million. Notably, that day included other gold medal events of Suni Lee and Bobby Finke as per Deadline.

Even though the track and field athletes pulled around a whopping 35 million viewers for the entire day, the basketball finals won this battle because of its ability to retain a massive live audience. Nevertheless, both Noah Lyles and Team USAB won the gold medal. However, Kevin Durant had the last laugh.

What’s the Kevin Durant-Noah Lyles controversy?

Before the start of the men’s 100-meter race, everyone had their Lyles. Especially, a few NBA stars even visited the stadium to watch the race live. Fortunately, the star won the race by a whisker, saving himself from massive embarrassment. There was silence after he was ultimately crowned as the ‘fastest man on earth’.

However, things didn’t go in his favor for the second time. Lyles took part in the 200-meter race and couldn’t finish first, but took home the bronze medal. Several reports claimed that the 27-year-old suffered from high fever and Covid during the race. The fans anyway let that slip away and didn’t troll the star for it. But Kevin Durant didn’t let that slip away easily.

The Slim Reaper took to an IG post that shared the star’s 200-meter result and wrote, “World champion of 3rd place?”. Even though Lyles proved himself in the 100-meter category, KD wasn’t having it. Notably, when Noah made that controversial statement in 2023, he won gold medals in 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4x 100 meters relay at the World Athletics Championship. This time though, Team USA didn’t qualify for the 4x 100-meter relay because of covid-hit Lyles. It could have been a concrete victory if he had won gold in all three categories. What do you make of Kevin Durant’s jab at Noah Lyles? Let us know in the comments.

Before leaving, do watch the Dual Threat Show hosted by BG12 where Bulldogs’ Asia Avinger details her experience with Kobe Bryant, her WNBA ROTY picks, and more in the video below.