Devin Booker’s Surprising Take on Noah Lyles Provokes ESPN’s Shannon Sharpe: “You Ain’t Winning”

Noah Lyles won 100m Olympic gold, crossing the finish line five thousandth of a second ahead of Kishane Thompson. His historic win reignited the argument between track and field and NBA fans. However, Tokyo 2020 basketball gold medalist, Devin Booker, also chimed in ahead of the USA vs. Brazil match. The Olympian said he “still doesn’t see eye to eye,” with Lyles on his “World champions of what?” comment about the NBA.

“I feel like all the best talent in the world is in the NBA. And that’s coming from an Olympic gold medalist who believes that being an NBA champion was probably harder to do,” argued Booker. However, the 4x NBA all-star’s comments didn’t land with Shannon Sharpe. “Devin! It was a moot point. I was dead, we had put this to bead. Why are you digging it up?” the nearly livid 56-year-old asked.

Sharpe also disagreed with the Phoenix Suns player. “It is not harder,” countered Sharpe. “You know why? Because you can play (basketball), you cannot run,” with a leg injury implied Sharpe. “If anything below your waist bothers you. You ain’t winning,” in track and field events, said Shannon Sharpe in the latest episode of Nightcap on YouTube.

However, the retired NFL tight end also had a solid argument while defining Noah Lyles and track and field. The ESPN analyst argued everyone how people have seen basket ballers “tape things up,” like injured toes, (feet) arches, and Achilles, and play to win. Sharpe also named players such as Rajon Rondo, who continued to pay with a dislocated elbow.

In fact, the former footballer didn’t even shy away from giving examples from his own sport. “We saw The Rams’ Jack Youngblood, play with a broken leg,” said Sharpe. Finally, after sufficiently substantiating his argument, Sharpe asked Devin Booker which track and field event the NBA star believed could be played with a broken leg. However, Shannon Sharpe and Devin Booker aren’t the only ones talking about what Noah Lyles said last year.

What reignited debate around Noah Lyles’ controversial comments on the NBA?

“World Champion of what? The United States?” is all it took for the 27-year-old track icon to spark a debate that refuses to die down. However, the real reason behind the debate catching a second wind is because of Lyles’ historic 100m Olympic medal. Immediately after Lyles backed up his tall claims, social media filled with comments like “Noah Lyles just murdered all of NBA Twitter.”

Now, the athletes and experts are once again going back and forth on every platform. DeMarcus Cousins echoed the words of Devin Booker in the August 6th episode of the Above The Rim with DH 12 podcast. The Rio 2016 basketball champion also argued that the NBA winners deserved the World Champion title, as those teams often consist of the best players from across the world. However, with Lyles eyeing another gold medal in the 200m sprint, it seems this debate won’t be ending anytime soon.