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'I Wanted Him To Lose': Josh Hart Admits to 'Hating' Noah Lyles During Paris Olympics Amid NBA Beef
New York Knicks guard Josh Hart divulges how he was rooting against Team USA’s Noah Lyles to lose in the Olympics.
The Olympics might be over, but the drama lingers. New York Knicks star Josh Hart admitted on the Roommates Show, where he was chatting with teammate Jalen Brunson, that he was rooting for American sprinter Noah Lyles to lose in the Paris Summer Olympics.
Lyles hasn’t exactly won over many NBA fans since his remarks last year when he took a jab at NBA players for calling themselves world champions after winning the NBA Finals, famously asking, “World champion of what?”
Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson ended up discussing Lyles in a clip shared from the show
“I feel like for most of these Olympics I was very patriotic and I wanted Team USA to win gold,” Hart started, as Brunson quickly caught on to where Hart was heading with his remarks.
“You can save yourself and just let it slide and keep it pushing, bro. There’s no reason,” Brunson advised.
Josh Hart seemed to agree at first, but then the clip skips to Brunson reopening the conversation.
“But if you were going to continue your statement, what would you have said? If you were going to,” Brunson prompted.
“I really wanted him to lose,” Hart admitted. “Damn, I wanted him to lose. I think this was the first time that all of NBA Twitter banded together just to hate. I was hating, and then I was like, damn, you know what, respect. I can’t even hate anymore.”
The beef between Noah Lyles and Team USA
Noah Lyles, however, walked away with two medals in Paris—gold in the 100-meter final, earning him the title of the fastest man on earth, and bronze in the 200-meter dash, which he ran while dealing with COVID-19. Devin Booker openly praised Lyles after his gold medal win but made it clear he still disagrees with the sprinter's views on the NBA.
Moreover, Noah Lyles made additional comments in a Time article published in June, where he expressed his thoughts about being invited to an Adidas event headlined by Edwards.
“You want to do what? You want to invite me to [an event for] a man who has not even been to an NBA Final? In a sport that you don’t even care about? And you’re giving him a shoe?” Lyles remarked.
These comments were so surprising that Brunson joked online, saying he initially thought they came from a parody NBA account.
After the U.S. men’s basketball team won gold, Lyles clarified his earlier statement about Edwards.
“There is a rumor going around that I did not go to [Anthony Edwards’] shoe release because he didn’t deserve it,” Lyles wrote on X. “That is not the case—he definitely deserves his shoes. He is an amazing player. The problem was finding time based on my prior engagements.
“Congratulations on Becoming an Olympic Champion!”
Giannis Antetokounmpo agreed With Noah Lyles’ NBA take
Interestingly, the view that Lyles has been heavily criticized for is actually shared by some players and coaches within the NBA. Giannis Antetokounmpo was one of the most notable figures to back Lyles, sharing similar thoughts during an interview last summer after the controversy erupted.
"I wanted to back him up so bad. He received so much backlash for saying the obvious. I think some people don't understand it. Maybe it's an arrogance thing," Giannis began. "I don't think in any other sport you're called the world champions. In soccer, which is way bigger than the NBA and more popular than the NBA, the UEFA Champions League champions don't say they're world champions."
Coaches like Gregg Popovich have also opposed calling NBA Champions 'World' champions. As a former Team USA coach himself, Popovich knows it's not standard internationally to call the winners of a national league the world champions, even if that league is the best in the world.
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