American sprinting icon, Noah Lyles, made it to the headlines by bagging a hat trick of gold medals at the recent 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest. However, his tale of brilliance was short-lived as headlines around the sporting world began to be dominated by his comments on the NBA. Nevertheless, in a recent press conference, Lyles pulled off the curtains from his perspective on calling out the NBA in the ‘World Champions’ debate.

Noah Lyles claimed that he admires the NBA, but as per the sprinter, a team or an athlete cannot refer to themselves as world champions without facing off against the best in the world. No sooner had he said this, Lyles faced a lot of online trolling from NBA stars that also included Olympic champion Kevin Durant and his teammate Devin Booker.

However, in a recent podcast, Lyles once again weighed in on the world champion debate with a laugh and further revealed an interesting insight about his massage therapist.

Noah Lyles reflects on the world champion debate

Noah Lyles recently appeared at the Paper Route podcast by ‘I Am Athlete’. The world champion was asked whether he saw the recent USA vs. Canada basketball match at the FIBA World Cup for the bronze medal. Lyles let out a big laugh and said, “No. I didn’t watch it.” 

He also revealed that his massage therapist works with a lot of basketball players who were actually involved in the FIBA World Cup. Lyles added, “I didn’t watch it, which is funny because my massage therapist actually works with a lots of basketball players who are playing in you know the world championships for that title.” Adding to this, he talked about his therapist and conceded, “she actually works with the French team a lot but they got eliminated pretty early.”

This loss by the USA basketball team further supports Noah Lyles’ remarks about the NBA and this was also reflected in a post by the World Athletics. After the U.S. men’s basketball team had been knocked out by Germany, the International Athletics Federation supported Lyles’ claims as they posted a picture on X with the score of the game, accompanied by Noah Lyles’ picture of “World Champion of What”.

However, only a few days ago, Lyles had once again cleared the air about his press conference comments in Budapest.

200M world champion clarifies his controversial comments

The Noah Lyles vs. NBA controversy does not look like stopping anytime soon. In fact, in a recent interview, Lyles claimed that he could not be on a social media platform for long as they only showcased his controversy.

According to a GQ Sports report, Lyles had said, “I couldn’t go on TikTok for more than three seconds because it would just be like, me. And I’m like, Can I see something else? I don’t want to see me. I go to Twitter to see other things.” 

He also clarified that considers the NBA to be the best, but fans have to consider the difference between the national and international sides of basketball tournaments.

Read more: “Can’t shit on other sports”: After Victory, Noah Lyles Attack on NBA Leaves Internet in Splits

He also reiterated his point and said that no one can become a world champion in anything without facing the best of the world in that respective sport. This controversy looks to linger on to next year’s 2024 Paris Olympics where Noah Lyles will be representing the United States together with his NBA countrymen.

Watch this story: After Flaunting World Championship Medals, Noah Lyles Gets Back to Hustle Again Ahead of Prefontaine Diamond League