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After his “world champion of what” comment regarding NBA players last year, U.S. track star Noah Lyles finds himself in hot water again, this time, against fellow Olympic gold medalist and Adidas endorser Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Lyles had to set the record straight after his unflattering remark about Edwards in a past interview with Time magazine resurfaced.
“There is a rumor going around that I did not go to [Edwards’] shoe release because he didn’t deserve it. That is not the case. He definitely deserves his shoes, he is an amazing player. The problem was finding time based on my prior engagements. Congratulations on becoming an Olympic champion,” Lyles tweeted on August 12.
Noah Lyles Takes a Swipe at Anthony Edwards
Time reported on June 27 that Lyles was miffed as he questioned Adidas during their negotiations for not commanding the same star treatment Edwards is enjoying with the shoe giant.
When Lyles was negotiating an Adidas contract extension last year, the company, he says, threw him what it thought was a bone. Adidas invited him to the shoe-release event for Anthony Edwards, the rising Minnesota Timberwolves star who’s got plenty of talent but, unlike Lyles, isn’t a six-time world champ. “You want to do what?” says Lyles. “You want to invite me to [an event for] a man who has not even been to an NBA Finals? In a sport that you don’t even care about? And you’re giving him a shoe? No disrespect: The man is an amazing athlete. He is having a heck of a year. I love that they saw the insight to give him a shoe, because they saw that he was going to be big. All I’m asking is, ‘How could you not see that for me?’” (Adidas declined to comment. In February, Lyles signed a new deal with the company, reportedly the most lucrative track-and-field contract in the post-Bolt era.)
Lyles’ comments went viral after Team USA won the gold in men’s basketball for the fifth straight time with Edwards playing a key role.
For his part, Lyles walked the talk when he won gold in the 100-meter dash in the 2024 Paris Olympics. But his celebration was short-lived as he settled for bronze in the 200-meter event, where he was the overwhelming favorite.
Lyles collapsed shortly after the race, and the NBC broadcast later reported that Lyles had tested positive for COVID-19. His coach, Lance Brauman, said his top track star endured a 102-degree fever during the race, per Fox News.
‘World Champion of What?’
After he won the 200-meter event in the 2023 World Athletics Championship in August of that year, Lyles drew the ire of the NBA community for his taking issue with the league’s champions being called the world champions.
“You know what hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals, and they have ‘world champion’ on their heads,” Lyles said. “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. We have almost every country out here fighting, thriving, putting on their flag to show that they are represented. There ain’t no flags in the NBA. We gotta do more. We gotta be presented to the world.”
Noah Lyles Agrees Team USA Is World Champions
After Team USA’s hard-earned fifth straight gold medal in a hostile environment in Paris against the home team, Lyles did not backtrack, but at the same time, he gave his flowers to the NBA players who represented the country in the Olympics.
“It’s not a thing of if I consider or not,” Lyles said when asked whether Team USA players could claim that they are the world champion. “It’s … they are. They’re Olympic champions and in the Olympic champions you face the whole world.
“And they saw how difficult it is,” Lyles continued. “And of course, they came out on top — and of course, I knew they would. Because we have some of the greatest athletes. But they saw you can’t just slap everybody together and say ‘This is a great team.’ You know there were a ton of countries out there who said ‘Hey we’re not lying down just because we don’t play in the NBA. You know we have cohesion. We have our own way of playing the game.’ And there were a lot of close calls. But again, like myself, I have confidence in the U.S. basketball team that they were going to make it all the way.”
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