Denver Nuggets forward claps back at Noah Lyles after Finals comments

The Denver Nuggets became the world champions of basketball this spring when they captured their first-ever Larry O’Brien trophy. Just don’t tell that to United States Track and Field athlete Noah Lyles — or at least don’t call them “world champions.”

Lyles recently made headlines by questioning the validity of that title.

“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 via Eurosport. “World champion of what? The United States?”

The clip went viral online, with many NBA players firing back at the sprinter. Amongst them was Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon, who took to the comments of an ESPN Instagram post to air his response.

“Whatever, I’m smoking buddy in the 200m,” Gordon wrote.

Could Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon beat Noah Lyles in a race?

Absolutely not.

Gordon is an exceptional athlete, flying high for highlight dunks all the time. But, it’s tough to imagine that he’d be able to out run the world-class sprinter — not that it even matters.

Should the Denver Nuggets be considered ‘world champions’

Is the Pope Catholic?

Lyles’ claim that the NBA title winners shouldn’t be called “world champions” is absolutely ridiculous, which is why I’m writing about it and you’re reading it.

Whichever team comes out on top at the end of each NBA season should definitely be awarded that title. The league is the best in the world, meaning that the globe’s best talent comes together and competes to lift the Larry O’Brien trophy each year.

If the Nuggets were to compete against the winners of other leagues around the world, they’d undoubtedly come out on top and it likely wouldn’t even be close.

The talent disparity between the NBA and some other leagues is just ridiculous.

Not to mention the sheer amount of international talent that populates the association in the modern day. Players like Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, and several others have all become stars despite being from other countries.