Aaron Gordon defends his Noah Lyles retort for 'World Champion of what?' comments
Aaron Gordon was among the players who rebuked the reigning Olympic men's 100-meter gold medalist Noah Lyles, who questioned NBA champions' earning a 'World Champion' label. Gordon mocked Lyles, saying he would beat him in a 200-meter sprint race.
"Whatever... I'm smoking buddy in the 200m," Gordon commented on a post that shared Lyles' comments.
After Lyles won the gold medal in the 100-meter race in front of NBA players on Sunday, his followers called out the comments criticizing the track and field star. An X user, @cIayboiprati, whose post garnered 2.3 million views, wrote:
"Not a single brain cell was at use here."
The user reacted to a screenshot of comments featuring Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Aaron Gordon and other NBA players trolling Noah Lyles.
Gordon replied to the user late on Monday, defending his criticism of Lyles' comments.
"I thought it was funny lol," Gordon tweeted.
Gordon hinted he was joking about what he said back then. In fairness to the Nuggets forward, his comments seemingly had a comical twist than what others like Durant, Booker and Draymond Green had to say.
NBA Twitter agreed with the retorts, but after Lyles' 100-meter win, the tide has shifted in the latter's favor.
Devin Booker extends NBA players beef vs. Noah Lyles
Noah Lyles winning the gold medal changed the narrative about his 'World Champions of What' comments against the NBA. However, some players, especially Devin Booker, have stood their ground. The Phoenix Suns star continues disagreeing with Lyles' take on the 'World Champions' label for NBA championship winners.
"I still don’t agree with [Noah Lyle’s’] comment," Booker said (h/t Legion Hoops). "I feel like all the best talent in the world is in the NBA… Being an NBA champion is probably harder to do."
Booker won the gold medal with the USA basketball team in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics. The Americans haven't had much competition in the sport when they have deployed their best. They have won four consecutive gold medals leading up to the Paris games and are hot favorites to claim a fifth with a 12-man roster that includes 11 former and current All-Stars.
However, it's tough to win an NBA championship with talent evenly spread across multiple teams. Nevertheless, that shouldn't take away from the hardships of achieving greatness at the Olympics for different sports.
Noah Lyles faced stiff competition in all the rounds before winning the final by a mere margin of 0.005 seconds against second-placed Kishane Thompson by a margin of 0.005 seconds against second-placed Kishane Thompson.