Noah Lyles breaks silence on Anthony Edwards drama and Adidas shoe event snub
Noah Lyles' confidence has landed him in hot water over the years but he always backs it up.
The outspoken American sprinter silenced the doubters at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, capturing a gold medal in the 100m and winning an improbable bronze in the 200m while dealing with COVID-19.
3
Lyles is no stranger to controversy in the NBA world (more on that in a second), and on Monday rubbed basketball folk up the wrong way again over some resurfaced comments of his.
During an feature with last year, Lyles appeared to take a shot at Minnesota Timberwolves and Team USA Basketball star Anthony Edwards - who recently helped the US to Olympic gold.
Lyles had made it clear that he wanted a signature sneaker with his apparel sponsor, Adidas, and was offended when, in the middle of contract extension talks with the clothing and footwear giant, the brand invited him to an event promoting Anthony Edwards’ new shoe.
"You want to do what?"
READ MORE BASKETBALL
"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?
Footage of Noah Lyles' insane speed during training session is going viral as he attempts to break Usain Bolt record
"No disrespect; the man is an amazing athlete. He is having a heck of a year. 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?'"
The resurfaced quotes caused quite the stir online, with many people defending "Ant-Man" over the unnecessary disrespect.
It wasn't long before Lyles caught wind of his resurfaced quotes, and he took to social media to quieten the noise.
Most read in Basketball
"This is a rumor going around that I did not go to [Anthony Edwards]'s shoe release because he didn't deserve it," Lyles said on X.
"That is not the case. He definitely deserves his shoes. He is an amazing player. The problem was finding time based on my prior engagement. Congrats on becoming an Olympic champion!"
3
3
This isn't the first time the Olympic gold medalist has drawn the ire of basketball fans and pros.
Last year he sparked a huge debate after claiming NBA champions shouldn't be called 'world champions' because it's a league entirely made up of teams from the United States, and Canada (Toronto Raptors).
Winners of virtually every major American sport are known as 'world champions' due to them being the biggest leagues in the world - in that particular sport - with the best players.
However critics, including Lyles, said teams shouldn't call themselves 'world champions' unless they've played -- and beaten -- other nation's teams.
“You know the thing that hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have ‘world champion’ on their head,” Lyles said. “World champion of what? The United States? Don’t get me wrong, I love the U.S., at times, but that ain’t the world.”
Two-time NBA champion and 2014 MVP Kevin Durant wrote on Instagram at the time, "Somebody help this brother."
Warriors star Draymond Green posted, “When being smart goes wrong” with the facepalm emoji while Suns shooter Devin Booker, posted facepalm emoji.
However, after LeBron James and Steph Curry led USA men's basketball to gold in Paris, and Diana Taurasi and A'ja Wilson did the same for the women, Lyles has somewhat softened his original stance.
"It's not a thing of if I consider or not," Lyles said. "It's...they are. They're Olympic champions and in the Olympic champions you face the whole world.'"
"And they saw how difficult it is," Lyles added. "'And of course they came out on top and of course I knew they would. Because we have some of the greatest athletes but they saw you can't just slap everybody together and say 'This is a great team.'
"You know there was a ton of countries out there who said 'Hey we're not lying down just because we don't play in the NBA. You know we have cohesion. We have our own way of playing the game,'" Lyles continued.
"And there was a lot of close calls. But again, like myself, I have confidence in the U.S. basketball team that they were going to make it all the way."
Lyles' original comments seem to be water under the bridge now.
Booker was one of the people who congratulated him after he won the 100m gold in the Stade de France.
“It was crazy,” the Team USA star told . “I mean, it was great for America. Congrats to him.
Read More on talkSPORT
However, he added: "I still don't agree with the comment.
"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."
Topics