Basketball
NBA looks to Europe for the Future
Paris Olympic 100-meter gold medalist Noah Lyles may have created controversy when he suggested winning the NBA championship does not necessarily translate into best in the world.
The world’s fastest man questioned NBA athletes called themselves world champions after winning a title.
“You know the thing that hurts me most is that I watch the NBA finals, and they have world champions on the head,” he said. “World champions of what? The United States?” Lyles said in a tweet.
As expected, several members of Team USA in Paris disagreed.
“I still don’t agree with the comment,” Kevin Booker said. “I feel like all the best talent in the world is in the NBA, and this is coming from an Olympic gold medalists who believes being in the NBA and winning an NBA championship is probably harder to do.”
“Somebody help this brother,” Kevin Durant said.
The 27-year-old Lyles made waves last year when he liked a post on X after the US lost to Germany in the 2023 World Championships. Lyles became the first US. male athlete to win the 00 meters since Justin Gatlin in 2004, defeating Jamiaica’s Kishame Thompson in a photo finish.
As for Booker, he has been part of the starting lineup for a team that has gotten off to a strong start in this Olympic tournament.
We may soon settle the argument for good. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has estimated there are more than 270 million basketball fans in Europe as well as international stars like Nikola Jovic and Giannis Antetokoupmpo, who has each on MVP awards and NBA titles. He has watched huge crowds of over 25,000 at the group games in Lille and is talking about an in-season tournament matching the NBA champions against the FIBA champions and possibly expanding to Europe. The NBA is already playing regular season games in Europe.
The NBA is no longer strictly an American game. Last year, there were 61 internationals in the league.
