Giannis Antetokounmpo Agrees With Noah Lyles Calling Out NBA Teams Who Claim They're World Champs
American sprinter Noah Lyles made headlines and received plenty of backlash last month when he questioned why NBA, MLB, and other American-based teams and players call themselves world champions after winning the NBA Finals. Giannis Antetokounmpo, who won the NBA Finals with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021, agrees that it's odd the 'world champs' thing is actually a thing.
Antetokounmpo was asked about Lyles' comments during a recent interview on the 48 Minutes podcast and explained why he agrees with the sprinter.
"I wanted to back him up so bad, you know," Antetokounmpo said. "He received so much backlash for saying the, like, obvious."
"I don't think in any other sport you are called the world champions. You know, like in soccer, which is way bigger than the NBA, more popular than the NBA. When the Champions League, the UEFA Champions League, you know, champions....they don't say the world champion, you know. When they win the World Cup, they play against the USA team, they play against the teams around the world, you know, countries around the world, then they say world champs."
While the 'world champions' tagline has been entrenched in American sports culture over the years, it's hard to argue with Giannis and Lyles when you really think about it.
While the NBA undoubtedly has the collection of the best players in the world, it's not a global league and the NBA Finals isn't some sort of global tournament. The only champions that should technically claim to be world champions are World Cup winners. Olympic gold medalists could get a pass as well given that the Olympics do, in fact, include competitors from around the world.