Stephen A Smith calls Noah Lyles ignorant for his NBA comment

SAS talking about 2023 Worlds is a win - no matter what

Lyles making a very smart move

I hate ESPN and the way it presents sport in general (not that NBC does a particularly good job) but I hope Noah can translate it into more attention and revenue for track and field, even if it means having to deal with all the stupidity that comes along with modern sports broadcast

SAS is correct, and made his point respectfully

No such thing as bad publicity.

As long as the NBA Playoffs are exclusive to its own league, which has competitive balance measures in place such as salary caps, veteran incentives, ordered draft picks, max deals, trade deadlines, etc., and then has the audacity to claim world titles, then I'm claiming there are 5 dudes in Serbia that could clap the Nuggets and there's no way to disprove that because they're not welcome to try which means it's not open to the world which means it can't be considered a world championship. Let's go, NOJO!!

hitler

Apparently Drake of all people weighed in on this too, on the side of the NBA and I feel like this only helps Noah’s point

SAS makes millions covering the NBA

You cannot expect a man to be honest when his paycheck is affected

ESPN and the NBA are butt tight and track is affiliated with NBC

The irony of calling someone else ignorant when you think you can call the winners of a competition taking place IN A SINGLE COUNTRY involving only teams from said country “World Champions”…!?!? 😂🤦‍♂️

But is he vaxxed? :)

I care about track. A lot.

😂 😂 😂 Very smart move by Noah.

I agree with Noah but damn, that opinion looks forced and completely unauthentic. I don't know what it is as I don't think he's like some ungenuine malevolent manipulator and feel like he's probably a good guy, but it just doesn't come off as quiet right

The way ESPN is covering this only supports Noah's point but it's still frustrating. He wasn't so much as taking shots at the NBA versus pointing out how little coverage/attention a global T&F championships, with the best athletes in the world, gets. The NBA is made up of the best players in the world. That's what people are focusing on who are taking the quote out of context. The fact that ESPN is putting up this clickbait, & nothing else from the World Champs, drives home Lyles' point. The problem, however, is that the average sports fan would find what Lyles said to be ridiculous because of the way it is being presented to them.

So here is the reality:

Noah is right. The winners of the NBA championship aren't the world champions. They simply aren't. The might be the winners of the best basketball competition in the world - but they aren't the world champions.

And these privileged, overpaid, over-idolized idiot basketballers - the majority of whom have not lived a minute in the real world and have been slurped and mollycoddled since it was apparent they could become someones cash cow, getting all overly defensive and territorial about this is absolutely comical. Kendrick "it's okay to be racist because I'm black" Perkins? Kevin "Angry because I can't get someone to really love me so I bang pornstars" Durant? Austin "My dad legitimately doesn't like me" Rivers? Yeah okay guys - defend your precious "turf".

Now that being said, this is such an overused, cliched perspective it just really isn't worth getting involved in. "The NBA champs aren't world champs, ugh how American" - yeah haven't heard that one before. And it really doesn't look good when you go to your social media and find pictures of you posing in designer fashion and walking into the stadium which look eerily like the exact pictures NBA stars have all over their social media. Because now it appears like you want to be like these guys but are just envious that you aren't (in terms of fame and the bank balance).

In summary - I don't know what prompted him to (obviously) prepare this "media gem" and go after it, but even though it's generated publicity I don't think that means it's good or will help him. As for Stephen A Smith? Ignorant? What's the ignorance - not understanding these immature idiots would get their panties in a twist? The world doesn't revolve around the NBA Stephen.

it's ESPN and SAS nobody cares about their opinions anymore. They lost credibility in 2020

It's kind of funny. Mostly he's a track and anime nerd. He's doing us a solid.