Stephen A. Smith Blasts U.S. Sprinter Noah Lyles 'Flagrantly Ignorant' Insult About NBA 'World Champs' Title

Another millennial athlete is here to throw a light jab at the United States, at the risk of sounding ignorant.

Well, one U.S. athlete tried to blast American sports and landed way off the mark.

U.S. sprinter Noah Lyles took quite the victory lap after winning gold at the 100-200m sprint double at the World Championships in Budapest.

Lyles used his win to make a fairly dopey remark about American leagues like the NBA calling themselves "World Champions." And the 26-year-old didn't sound like a fan of American sports.

Noah Lyles of the United States celebrates after his team winning the men's 4x100 meters relay final at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 2023 in Budapest, Hungary on Aug. 26, 2023. (Photo by Meng Dingbo/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Lyles dissed the NBA, called his international win superior to American events and said he backs the United States "at times," just not all the time.

"What hurts me the most is I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have World Champion on their heads," Lyles said, relayed by Daily Mail. "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."

Noah Lyles worked his role as the self-deprecating American athlete naively taking advantage of living in the world's greatest and most privileged country.

Lyles' issue was that the NBA does represent the best in the world.

Several players in the NBA, as well as ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, vehemently denounced Lyles' comment on Monday.

Stephen A., teeing off on Lyles, called him "flagrantly ignorant." His points were simple: USA basketball is the sport's undisputed king and representative of the world's best talent.

"[Lyles just came across as flagrantly ignorant," Stephen A. admitted. "And that needs to be said. The NBA has established itself as a global iconic brand."

Smith dunked on Lyles, adding that the NBA employs around 120 players hailing from 40 countries and six continents.

Lyles may hate the sound of it, but it's a fact.

"Arguably the best player in the game today — in a lot of people's eyes — is (the Nuggets' Serbian center) Nikola Jokic," Stephen A. said. "You have guys from Serbia, Slovenia, the list goes on. Luka Doncic - where's he from? (Slovenia) Giannis Antetokounmpo — where's he from? Greece."

Modern NBA drafts heavily lean toward selecting international players as lottery draft picks, mostly notably this year's No. 1 overall selection, French phenom Victor Wenbanyama.

Lyles delivered an argument set to fail from the jump.

Yeah, the NBA has its problems. But its sheer dominance over the rest of the world is another case of American exceptionalism.

Stephen A. continued, "And it's increased now. So how is that not global? How is that not the world champion? The best players from around the world descend upon America to join the National Basketball Association. ...

"So Noah Lyles said a very, very, very ignorant comment."

Lyles also ticked off the NBA. Players such as Draymond Green, Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard called out Lyles' claim as bogus.

"Somebody help this brother," Durant commented on Instagram.

"Lol is somebody going to tell him??" said Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo.

Even Canadian rapper Drake talked smack back at Lyles.

"He thought this speech was gonna be so hard in the mirror the night before… now the whole league doesn’t rate you," Drake posted.