Giannis Antetokounmpo CHICKENED out from supporting controversial statement due to fear of backlash from Kevin Durant and other NBA superstars

Giannis Antetokounmpo backs sprinter Noah Lyles over controversial comments despite personal misgivings.

Giannis Antetokounmpo CHICKENED out from supporting controversial statement due to fear of backlash from Kevin Durant and other NBA superstars

Giannis (L); Noah Lyles(R); (via Instagram)

American track athlete Noah Lyles won the 200 metres at the World Athletic Championship last month. Post his victory, he gave an interview in which he expressed that he disliked the way the NBA champions called themselves World Champions’. This statement attracted a lot of criticism from various USA-born NBA superstars. With Kevin Durant saying, “Somebody help this brother.”

The exact words he said that attracted the ire of so many basketball greats were, “You know what 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?” This caused many prominent players to rain down upon him. Now another star has spoken up. This time, however, in Lyles’ favour. Giannis Antetokounmpo finally broke his silence on the controversial topic. He said that he totally agrees with Lyles and he believes the athlete just stated the obvious.

YouTube video

Giannis Antetokounmpo also added he wanted to back Noah Lyles up ‘so bad’, but feared backlash. In the end, however, he decided to comment on the topic because he didn’t care what others said as long as he could get his view out.

FS Video

He added that he believes the fact that NBA champions call themselves the World Champions is something of an ‘arrogance problem’. The reasoning behind this was the fact that no other league that plays an internationally popular sport calls themselves World Champions after winning a domestic league. As a result of his comment, Giannis finds himself on the opposite side of the debate against arguably one of the best players to ever lace up, Kevin Durant

Also read: Kawhi Leonard’s load management habit in TROUBLE as NBA makes move to force team to play star players

Who are the NBA stars siding against Noah Lyles?

Q 1694619025
Damian Lillard (via Instagram)

Durant wasn’t the only one upset with Noah’s comments. NBA stars vented their frustration in the comment section of Noah’s interview post. PJ Tucker commented, “can’t make this up” and Heat center Bam Adebayo chimed, “Lol is Somebody Going to tell him.” The reactions either defended the NBA’s superiority or ridiculed Noah for his opinion. Damian Lillard simply commented, “Tf”, and left it at that.

Many fans are asking the NBA stars who spoke ill of Noah to apologise to him. Regardless of whether they apologize, Noah’s statements have stirred up quite the conversation and has divided the NBA into different stances.

In case you missed: