The rift between the NBA and Noah Lyles continues to deepen over time. Recently, a report exposing last year’s drama surrounding the track and field athlete and the youngster Anthony Edwards stunned the sports world. Moreover, the absurdity of that situation led to disbelief amongst many, with Jalen Brunson being one of them.
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It caught Brunson’s attention shortly after NBACentel’s X post highlighted TIME’s report. The sheer ridiculousness around the event initially made the New York Knicks talisman believe it might been a joke from the parody account. However, he was left shell-shocked upon understanding the legitimacy of this post, prompting him to declare,
“Damn, I thought this was Centel”.
Damn I thought this was Centel https://t.co/jgTuPK0JIH
— Jalen Brunson (@jalenbrunson1) August 11, 2024
Given the surprising turn of events, it’s hard to blame Brunson for reaching this conclusion momentarily. After all, the report revealed the details of Lyles’ apparent unprofessionalism, showing how his comments unnecessarily undermined Ant’s big day.
The drama began toward the end of last year when Lyles was negotiating a renewal of his Adidas contract. After turning down the company’s initial offer, Adidas tried to make amends by inviting him to Edwards’ shoe-release event. However, this move rubbed the 27-year-old athlete the wrong way.
“You want to do what? You want to invite me to [an event for] a man who has not even been to an NBA Finals? In a sport that you don’t even care about? And you’re giving him a shoe? No disrespect; the man is an amazing athlete… I love that they saw the insight to give him a shoe, because they saw that he was going to be big. All I’m asking is how could you not see that for me?”.
Although Lyles eventually secured the most lucrative track and field deal of the post-Usain Bolt era with Adidas, it added another chapter to his ongoing feud with the NBA. This only reminded the league’s fans of when the conflict began, fueling the fire.
How did Noah Lyles become ‘an enemy’ of the NBA?
After securing a treble at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, Lyles publicly criticized the practice of naming NBA title-winning franchises as world champions. Expressing his thoughts during a press conference, the 6x world champion unprecedentedly commented,
“The thing that hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have ‘World Champion’ on their head. World champion of what? The United States? Don’t get me wrong. I love the US, at times, but that ain’t the world”.
Following this, NBA fans and icons began to push back against his derogatory comments. The frustration grew further when Team USA failed to secure any medals at the 2023 FIBA World Cup. This humiliating result seemed to validate Lyles’ criticism, prompting reactions from the league’s biggest stars.
Over time, veterans such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant joined forces with the leading names around the NBA to represent the nation in the Paris Olympics. Their efforts led to the formation of one of the greatest rosters, helping Team USA secure its fifth consecutive gold medal. This triumph, consequently, became an indirect rebuttal to Lyles’ earlier comments.
Just as the dust from this feud seemed to settle with the global success, the recent report reopened old wounds. As a result, NBA fans were bound to keep an eye on the proceedings as the back-and-forth drama remained far from concluding.
