Noah Lyles, recently celebrated as the fastest man in the world following his gold medal victory in the men’s 100m at the 2024 Paris Olympics, has turned the spotlight on his past remarks about the NBA. In a BuzzFeed interview, Lyles addressed the impact of his viral comments and shared insights into his current relationship with the USA Men’s Basketball team.

“I didn’t have a relationship with them then, and I guess I don’t have one now. They talk about me more than I talk about them,” the 27-year-old said. “I’m very happy that they came to watch because I made a tweet or a post a while ago, and I was addressing people who love me and hate me, and I said, “No matter what, you still watched, didn’t you?” That’s the funny part, because you know, no matter how people see you, they’re still going to watch whether they’re there to watch you fail or watch you succeed.”

As Blavity reported, Lyles criticized NBA players for referring to themselves as “world champions” after winning a championship. He made these controversial remarks in August 2023 after winning three gold titles at the World Athletic Games in Budapest, Hungary. The fastest man in the world said those players shouldn’t be given that title if they only play in the U.S. and Canada.

“You know what 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?“ Lyles told reporters at the time.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love the U.S., at times, but that ain’t the world. That is not the world. We are the world. We have almost every country out here fighting, thriving, putting on their flag to show that they are represented. There ain’t no flags in the NBA,“ he added.

When asked if NBA players had taken his remarks out of context, the Olympic champion from Florida said they misunderstood the broader point he was trying to make.

“I feel that it took on a life of itself. The NBA was just an example. The point got lost in translation along the way,” Lyles explained. “The point was supposed to be that the U.S. has so many people with the title of World Champion or Olympic Champion, and we seem to give it to others who don’t actually have the title. Why do that? They’re already great! They are already dignified in that, let’s celebrate the other sports out there who have taken on the world and are coming back and saying, ‘Hey, we did this for you.’ We want to be celebrated just as much.”

Several NBA players like Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Damian Lillard took to social media and spoke out against Lyles’ controversial comments.

NBANoah Lyles