Are NBA Champs World Champs?
Noah Lyles ruffled some feathers with his comment. But he did start a discussion.
A few weeks ago, track and field gold medalist Noah Lyles maddened the entire (well, majority of) NBA community by saying that NBA Champions who call themselves World Champions are ridiculous.
“World champion of what? The United States?”
This caused havoc in the NBA, as stars from Damian Lillard to Draymond Green took to social media to call out his ignorance.
But does Lyles have a point?
Well, yes and no.
He’s right that the NBA is just a national league (plus one team in Canada) and the title really is just a national championship.
But at the same time, the NBA has a bunch of international players.
And as Channing Frye and Richard Jefferson said in a recent episode of their podcast, Road Trippin’, the NBA rosters the most talented players in the world.
“This is the most international game in America next to baseball. You can take 75 percent of all NBA teams and go and put them up against any other team in the world, and they’re going to win… Nobody goes to the NBA and goes, ‘man, this isn’t the highest level. Let me go overseas,’” Frye said.
Jefferson then added, “When Giannis won Finals MVP and goes for 50, we were like, ‘that’s the best player in the world.’ He is the best player in the world. He won a championship. He did this. He is the best player in the world, on the best team in the NBA? No, that’s the best team in the world. There is no team out there that’s better than that team. So they are, technically, the best team in the world.”
So, here’s my personal opinion:
I think they are world champs because they are the best players on the planet competing against each other.
But at the same time, it’s all semantics. The whole argument is rooted in the technicality of the term and doesn’t really take anything away from NBA champions.
Being world champions or not doesn’t make them any less “champion.” They competed in the Finals and won. They took home the Larry O’Brien trophy. They are champions. They are the best team.
But what do you think?
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