Sha’Carri Richardson Defends Noah Lyle’s Statement That NBA Players Are ‘Not World Champions’

Sha’Carri Richardson ran to the defense of a fellow gold medalist sprinter who took shots at NBA players.

Richardson backed Team USA sprinter Noah Lyles when he said in a press conference that NBA players were “not world champions,” Sports Brief reported.

Richardson made it clear to everyone on social media what it means to be a world champion athlete. The Olympian’s post on Twitter (rebranding to X) said “I’m standing with Noah on this one !! @LylesNoah the organization has players from different countries but do they compete against different countries. You have to go against the world in order to be a world champion!!” Thousands of X users also agreed with the track star. To date, Richardson’s post has nearly 14,000 likes.

But not everyone felt the same way. Some major NBA players and supporters took offense to the statement. Over the weekend, NBA player, Kevin Durant and music icon, Drake, disapproved of Lyle’s statement on social media.

NBA players react to Noah Lyles saying: "The thing that hurts me the most is I have to watch the NBA Finals & they have 'world champion' on their head. 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." pic.twitter.com/HmlAPIEFG0

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) August 28, 2023

The Phoenix Suns star said, “Somebody help this brother.” Golden State Warriors forward, Draymond Green, also responded. Green said, “When being smart goes wrong,” and added a face-palm emoji. Drake chimed in, according to Clutch Points, “He thought this speech was gonna be so hard in the mirror the night before… now the whole league doesn’t rate u.”

Lyles said in the video that started it all, according to Eurosport, “I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have world champion on their heads.”

“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,” he told reporters after his win at the 2023 World Athletics Championship in Budapest, Hungary, CBS reported. Lyles made the controversial remarks after taking home his second gold medal. He won the men’s 200-meter final.

As previously reported by BLACK ENTERPRISE, Richardson, also a world champion, brought home gold medals for the women’s 100-meter and the 4×100-meter relay race. She also won bronze in the 200-meter final.