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May 28, 2023

Noah Lyles, NBA 'world champions' and the idea of American exceptionalism : NPR

Manuela López Restrepo Noah Lyles celebrates after anchoring the USA team to victory in the men's 4x100m relay final during the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in

Manuela López Restrepo

Noah Lyles celebrates after anchoring the USA team to victory in the men's 4x100m relay final during the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on August 26. Andrej Isakovic/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Noah Lyles celebrates after anchoring the USA team to victory in the men's 4x100m relay final during the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on August 26.

When track and field star Noah Lyles questioned why people refer to NBA title winners as "world champions," everyone from Drake to Kevin Durant rushed to have their say. One analyst says it's a case study in American exceptionalism.

Who is he? Lyles is a 26-year-old track and field athlete from the United States.

What's the big deal? There has been a lot of attention paid to Lyles since — but not for his wins.

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. 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. That is not the world. We are the world. We have almost every country out here fighting, thriving, putting on their flag to show that they are represented. There ain't no flags in the NBA.

“World champion of what? The United States?”Track and Field star Noah Lyles on NBA champs calling themselves World Champs.(via @eurosport) pic.twitter.com/do1WC2vdYb

Want more sports journalism? Listen to the Consider This episode on whether Lionel Messi with change Major League Soccer's rep.

What are people saying? Lots.

Kevin Durant took to the Instagram comment section to say, "Somebody help this brother." Draymond Green wrote, "When being smart goes wrong." And even Drake also gave his two cents:

Drake chimed in on the Noah Lyles debacle. 😅 https://t.co/dT7YFC2oLX pic.twitter.com/xb2CJOsqlr

Gary Al-Smith, a sports journalist who focuses on African sports, told NPR he "never thought an American athlete would be so open minded." Here's Al-Smith on why many other countries share Lyles' sentiment:

I would say a disproportionate amount of Americans actually believe that the NBA is — or that the winner of the NBA is — the world champion, because people from multiple nationalities, or the best NBA players in the world, play in the NBA.

That is very, very odd for me, because as a sports journalist, when you hear anything being described as the "world championship," automatically in your mind, it's [including] different countries competing.We never ever think of a world championship being about one team with multiple nationalities.

The reaction from the US to Noah Lyles comments is the perfect mirror into American Exceptionalism, and it is fascinating.They genuinely believe the NBA winner is a world champion because the league has the world's best players, not because different nations play for it.

And here's Al-Smith on how American exceptionalism finds its way into athletics:

American exceptionalism gave self confidence to Americans in any sphere of endeavor to make them believe that if you are American and you are good at what you do, you can make it anywhere.

Stuff like that comes to athletics as well, because American athletes always come like with, not a chip on their shoulder, [but] with an air of, "We are good because we are the best in America." And to be fair, I mean, America is a continent, isn't it? So if you are the best at what you do in America, most likely you will be among the best in the world, most likely most of the time.

A post shared by Noah Lyles (@nojo18)

So, what now?

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