Giannis Antetokounmpo shares his opinion about Noah Lyles comment / News - Basketnews.com

Giannis agreed with Noah Lyles laughing at NBA champions calling themselves world champions. Just because you play in the best league in the world, you cannot give yourself such a title, you have to respect other teams in the world, Giannis said.

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In the middle of the 2023 FIBA World Cup, American track star Noah Lyles made a comment that became famous worldwide. Almost immediately, he received tremendous backlash from NBA players. After a few weeks, Giannis Antetokounmpo decided to weigh in.

After winning the 200-meter title, Lyles was asked about his 100-200-meter double. In a colorful response, he said that this achievement is bigger than what other sports like to call it.

"The thing that hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA finals, and they have 'World champion' on their heads. World champion of what? The United States?" he said. "Don't get me wrong, I love the US at times, but that ain't the world."

"We have almost every country out here fighting, thriving, putting on their flag to show that they are represented," the athlete continued. "There ain't no flags in the NBA."

While the legendary coach Gregg Popovich agreed with Lyles almost 13 years ago, Tyrese Haliburton, for example, called it not the most intelligent take to have.

After playing in the EuroBasket 2022, Giannis Antetokounmpo did not represent Greece in the 2023 FIBA World Cup. After the tournament ended, he sat on the 48 Minutes podcast, where he expressed his view about the situation.

"I wanted to back him up so bad. He received so much backlash for saying the obvious. I think some people don't understand it. Maybe it's an arrogance thing," Giannis began. "I don't think in any other sport you're called the world champions. In soccer, which is way bigger than the NBA and more popular than the NBA, the UEFA Champions League champions don't say they're world champions."

"When they win the World Cup, they play against the US team, they play against teams around the world, countries around the world, then they say they're world champs," the superstar explained. "But in the NBA [when you win it], you say they're world champs. For me, I think Manu Ginobili said it the best - maybe I should not be saying this - he said, 'Hey, in 2006, Argentina won the World Cup, I'm the world champ, you're the NBA champs, I'm the world champ because we beat the Greek team that [had] beat the USA team in the previous game, I beat the Spanish team, I beat the Brazilian team, you know, so I'm the world champ.' I agree."

Giannis joined other European players with his opinion that contradicts the one most of the NBA players have.

"At the end of the day, in order to be the world champ, you've got to beat the world. I understand the NBA is the best league in the world and the talent in the NBA is the best you'll ever see in your life. It's not even close, it's the best league in the world, but we cannot say you're the world champ because you're playing in the best league in the world," he said.

"I don't say that there are other teams in the world that can beat the Denver Nuggets, for example, I'm not saying that. But you have to respect those teams," Giannis said. "You say 'I'm the NBA champ, I'm the ACB champ, I'm the EuroLeague champ, I'm the Greek champ, I'm the Spanish champ, I'm the French League champ.'"

Germany recently won the 2023 FIBA World Cup after beating Team USA in the semifinal and then overcoming Serbia in the final. Giannis thinks the Germans can call themselves world champions.

"Germany won the World Cup, correct? Germany can say, 'Yeah, we're the world champs.' They just won the World Cup. I think they beat the USA team. Then they went to the finals and beat the Serbian team," Antetokounmpo said.

"I might get some backlash from this, but I do not care, I totally agree with him," Giannis shared. "I feel like he's at the world stage, he's the best in the US, and then he goes and competes against other athletes from other countries, he thrives in that, so that's when you are the world champ - when you compete against everybody in the world. Long story short, I totally agree with him."

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