2024 Olympics: Devin Booker weighs in on Noah Lyles’ feud with NBA players

In August 2023, Noah Lyles became the first man since Usain Bolt to achieve a triple World Championship victory, winning the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4×100 meters at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

He had one complaint: NBA players using the title “world champion” after winning the NBA Finals.

“You know what hurts me the most is watching the NBA Finals and they have ‘champion of the world’ on their head. Champion of what? The United States?” Lyles said, responding to a question after his 200-meter win.

“Don’t get me wrong. I love the U.S. sometimes, but that’s not the world. That’s not the world. We are the world. We have almost every country here fighting, thriving, raising their flag to show they’re represented. There are no flags in the NBA,” he added.

During the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, his vision stuck in the ears of NBA superstars.

“It was awesome,” said Team USA’s Devin Booker. “I mean, it was awesome for America. Congratulations.”

Booker has one gold medal from the 2020 Tokyo Games. In 2023, he and his Phoenix Suns teammate Kevin Durant, who has three Olympic gold medals and one World Cup gold medal, were among the notable players who took to social media to express their displeasure.

Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and other NBA players respond to Noah Lyles’ comments. photo.twitter.com/O1eApkNpFG

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 28, 2023

At the Paris Games, Lyles won gold in the 100m and bronze in the 200m. The men’s basketball team has won all four games in Paris by 15 points or more and is the favorite to win gold.