“World champion of what? The United States?”– this snarky comment caused ripples through the NBA world when Noah Lyles fired an unprecedented shot at the country’s top basketball league in 2023. The athlete’s outspoken nature landed him in hot water and many hoopers like Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard, and many more couldn’t believe their eyes. The self-proclaimed fastest man in the world proved that he can talk the talk and walk the walk by winning Gold at the 2023 World Championships. Guess what, he proved it again today at the Paris Olympics!

Noah Lyles could not break Usain Bolt’s record of 9.63 seconds from the 2012 Olympics, but secured the gold medal for his country. The track athlete finished the 100m sprint in 9.79 seconds to win gold in consecutive years! This certainly gives him the right to call himself ‘the world champion’, a phrase that has become synonymous with the 27-year-old since his infamous comments.

“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. World Champion of what? The United States? Don’t get me wrong. I love the US, at times, but that ain’t the world. We are the world. We have almost every country out there fighting, thriving, putting on their flag to show that they are represented. There ain’t so flags in the NBA!” In case you were trying to remember what the star athlete had said with a sneaky smile on his face, here it is.

So, as soon as the opportunity arose again this year, the community immediately jumped on it to get back at the hoopers and their fanbase for ganging up at raining down criticism on Noah Lyles last year.

Track and Field community leaves Kevin Durant’s bandwagon in “shambles” months later, after Noah Lyles’ Olympic heroics

A fan wrote on X, “Noah Lyles just murdered all of NBA Twitter.” Last year, the initial reaction to Lyles’ comments had come swiftly from Kevin Durant. He wrote, “Somebody help this brother,” on his IG account, which immediately went viral. Devin Booker had commented a ‘facepalm’ emoji and the Track and Field fans would now bet that’d be the hoopers community’s reaction now! They were waiting for this day to return the favor.

“Noah Lyles showing the Americans & the NBA fanbase what a World Champion looks like! Bragging rights for life,” another X user added to the numerous reactions following Noah Lyles’ win. When the sprinter commented in August 2023, many thought that he was undermining the NBA’s excellence, so they conveniently ridiculed Lyles over his supposed nativity. Little did they know that it’d be coming back to haunt them just a year later!

An X user tweeted, “NBA Twitter in shambles haha .. NOAH LYLES is the fastest man in the world.” Alongside KD’s initial call for help for Lyles, Aaron Gordon was also a part of the sprinter’s comment section. He took his dispute a notch further and challenged Lyles! “Whatever… I’m smoking buddy in 200m,” the Nuggets player wrote who was on a high after winning the NBA championship last year. Unfortunately, they crashed out of the playoffs against an Anthony Edwards-led Timberwolves this year in Game 7, so the stakes aren’t the same anymore, or are they?

“You can say whatever tf you want about the NBA as long as you keep doing that, Noah Lyles,” a post read on X. From Lyle’s perspective, the NBA is a league only played in North America. On the flip side, Lyles and his fellow Olympians compete on a global level. Now that he proved himself on the world’s biggest stage, Lyles has the bragging rights to speak his mind about the NBA. Much like Michael Jordan, isn’t it? No, we aren’t comparing their basketball skills. We are attempting to draw a parallel between having that slight attitude, but it didn’t really matter because they balanced it out on the field/court!

Ironically enough, Team USA’s hoopers are teammates of Noah Lyles in the Olympics as a part of the 592-athletes group. The basketballers will compete in the quarterfinals of the competition on Tuesday. Now that Lyles has won the Gold, the competitive onus is on LeBron James and Co. to bring their 5th consecutive gold home, as well.

Highlighting that, a fan posted a GIF of Draymond Green looking on proudly at something, possibly after winning a title with GSW, with the caption, “Noah Lyles when he catches the mens USA basketball team outside the stadium tonight.”

Team USA’s Joel Embiid and Jayson Tatum were even at the venue soaking in the live action. After his win, The Process made his way out of the stadium while seemingly ignoring Lyles’ mother, as he climbed the stairs! Does that indicate some possible tension between Noah and the Team USA’s players over his remarks, a year later? But will the gold medalist care? After all, he is a world champion.

For more interesting stories, watch the Dual Threat Show hosted by BG12 where the prodigy puts Bulldogs star Silas Demary Jr under the pump with loaded NBA questions and more in this video below.