"All that cheerleading on the sidelines getting to his head": Drake trolled for calling out Noah Lyles over World Champion controversy

Noah Lyles caught the attention of the NBA, as well as basketball superfan and rapper Drake, for his "World Champions" recent rant. Drake had called out Lyles for his comments, but fans online trolled the Search & Rescue artist.

According to Rap TV, Drake responded to Lyles' comments and even ridiculed the athletics champion for "practicing his speech in the mirror." The Canadian artist added that no one in the NBA is fond of the 26-year-old runner.

"He thought this speech was gonna be so hard in the mirror the night before. … now the whole league doesn’t rate u," Drake said.

However, Noah Lyles found support on social media as fans began trolling Drake for defending the NBA. The rapper is a huge basketball fan but has been mocked for being a bandwagon, wearing jerseys of successful teams.

One fan called out Drake for thinking that he's a real NBA guy:

"All that cheerleading on the sidelines getting to his head."

One fan was merciless and shared a video of Drake hitting nothing but air when he was warming up with the Kentucky Wildcats:

"Drake.. imma be real we don’t want to hear your opinion on anything athletic."

Not all on X, formerly known as Twitter, went at Drake, though. One fan defended the NBA and mocked athletics for being unpopular:

"Track is literally one of the least popular sports in the world. Yeah going 50 Cent and dissing a giant like the NBA…screams thirsty."

Here are some of the best memes mocking Drake for his take on Noah Lyles' comments:

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What did Noah Lyles say about the NBA?

Noah Lyles at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest

After winning the 200m gold medal at the 2023 World Athletics Championship, Noah Lyles made his feelings known about the NBA.

He was frustrated with the lack of support for athletics and vented his frustrations by asking why the NBA champions are called "World Champions."

"The thing that hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have world champion on their heads," Lyles said.

"World champion of what? I love the US, at times, but that ain't the world! We are the world. We have almost every country out here fighting, thriving putting on a flag to show that they are representative.

"There are no flags in the NBA. We've got to do more. We've got to be presented to the world. I love the track community, but we can only do so much within our own bubble. There's a whole world out there."

Noah Lyles made history at the 2023 World Championships after becoming the first male athlete to win the 100m and 200m gold medals in the same tournament since Usain Bolt in 2015. Lyles also became the fifth athlete to accomplish the double.