Denver Nuggets ‘ Aaron Gordon was among the NBA players who reacted to Noah Lyles. The American sprinter, who recently won the gold medal in the men’s 100-meter sprint at the 2024 Paris Olympics, has notably questioned the NBA’s penchant for using the label “World Champion” for the season’s best team. In reaction to this rant, Gordon retorted, saying he would beat Lyles in a 200-meter sprint.
After Lyles won the gold, his fans went to social media to blast the NBA players who criticized him. One follower shared a screenshot of those comments on X, getting over 2.3 million views. It had the caption, “Not a single brain cell was at [sic] use here.”
The screenshot included the Nuggets star’s comment, “Whatever… I’m smoking him in the 200m.” It also included comments from Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and other NBA players mocking Lyles.
“I thought it was funny lol,” said Gordon’s caption in his quote-tweet.
Most of the NBA world seemed to frown at Lyles’ remark, but after the Olympic runner won his first Olympic gold—and his second Olympic medal overall—some now see his point. And in all fairness to the Denver Nuggets forward, his comment had a joking tone compared to the others that sounded antagonistic toward the sprinter.
Devin Booker still disagrees with Noah Lyles
Noah Lyles silenced some of his critics after he won an Olympic gold medal, reframing the conversation about his ‘world champions of what’ comment against the NBA. However, some still continue to stand their ground and disagree with Lyles’ take, including the Phoenix Suns’ Devin Booker.
“I still don’t agree with [Noah Lyle’s’] comment,” Booker said in an interview with The Athletic. “I feel like all the best talent in the world is in the NBA, and this is coming from an Olympic gold medalist (who believes) that being an NBA champion is probably harder to do.”
Booker did, however, praise Lyles for his historic achievement. “It was crazy. I mean, it was great for America. Congrats to him,” he said.
Noah Lyles secured the gold in a closely contested race, winning by only 0.005 seconds over second-placer Kishane Thompson of Jamaica. Booker is no stranger to the podium himself, as he won the gold medal with the USA men’s basketball squad in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics.
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