Josh Hart Reveals A Shocking Reason Why He ‘Really Wanted’ Noah Lyles To Lose In The 2024 Paris Olympics

Josh Hart, Noah Lyles (Image Credits: Getty Images)
American track and field athlete Noah Lyles made some controversial comments against the NBA, which sparked criticism from NBA analysts, fans, and players. Lyles faced backlash after referring to Team USA as Olympic champions rather than world champions. During an appearance on the Roommates Show, New York Knicks stars Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson teased Lyles. Hart expressed his desire for Team USA to win the gold while jokingly mentioning that he hoped Lyles would lose the 100m final at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“I feel like for most of these Olympics, I was very patriotic – I wanted Team USA to win gold. I really wanted him to lose. Damn, I wanted him to lose. I think this was the first time that all of the NBA Twitter banded together and was just hatin’. I was hatin’, and I was just like, ‘Damn, you know what, respect. I can’t even hate anymore.” Josh Hart said.

Hart said that because Lyles had criticized the NBA, this was the first time that the whole NBA Twitter community had united and taken a dislike to him.

Noah Lyles And The NBA Controversy

The controversy began when Lyles criticized NBA teams for calling themselves world champions after winning the NBA championship. The American track and field athlete believes that since the NBA predominantly consists of American teams, it doesn’t represent the entire world, so they shouldn’t be labeled as world champions.

“I have to watch the NBA finals, and they have a world champion on their heads. World champion of what? The United States? Don’t get me wrong. I love the US at times. But that ain’t the world. We are the world. We have almost every country out here fighting and thriving and putting on a flag to show that they are represented. There ain’t no flags in the NBA.” Lyles said.

Lyles pointed out that many countries participate in various leagues, but the NBA doesn’t have as much international involvement. Following his comments, he faced criticism from the basketball community when USA Basketball taunted Lyles by calling themselves world champions after winning the gold medal at the 2024 Olympics. It will be interesting to see where this controversy will end.