Noah Lyles Rejected Anthony Edwards Shoe Event Invite

New information about Noah Lyles and NBA stars has been buzzing online since Team USA won gold at the Paris Olympics this summer.

Controversial Comments on “World Champions”

Back in August 2023, Noah Lyles stirred up the NBA community by questioning why players called themselves “world champions” after winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy. He argued it wasn’t fair since most teams are from the U.S., with only Toronto Raptors being an exception.

“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,” Lyles said last year. “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.”

Noah Lyles wanted his respect after being invited to an Anthony Edwards event

(via Time)

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport)

Snubbed Invitation

Recently, it came out that Noah declined an invite to Anthony Edwards’ shoe-release event hosted by Adidas earlier this year. He reportedly said, “You want to do what? You want to invite me to [an event for] a man who has not even been to an NBA Finals? In a sport that you don’t even care about? And you’re giving him a shoe?”

“No disrespect: the man is an amazing athlete. He is having a heck of a year. I love that they saw the insight to give him a shoe because they saw that he was going to be big. All I’m asking is, ‘How could you not see that for me?” he added.

Olympic Glory

Team USA recently defeated France 98-87 in basketball thanks mainly to Stephen Curry’s stellar performance from beyond the arc. Curry scored 24 points and had 5 assists, making four crucial three-pointers in just three minutes.

Noah also shined at these Olympics, winning gold in a tight 100-meter race and bronze in the 200m run despite struggling with COVID-19 afterward .

Fans think it’s great how athletes support each other across different sports.

Lyles Changes His Tune

After Team USA’s victory in basketball, Lyles admitted they now deserve the “world champion” title because they competed against top nations globally.

“It’s not a thing of if I consider or not. It’s…they are,” Noah stated. “They’re Olympic champions and in Olympic champions you face the whole world.”

Lyles noted many international basketball players agree with him about how differently basketball is played worldwide: “You know there was a ton of countries out there who said ‘Hey we’re not lying down just because we don’t play in the NBA.'”

Finally, he always believed Team USA would win gold but knew it wouldn’t be easy: “And there was a lot of close calls. But again, like myself, I have confidence in U.S. basketball team.”