"Noah Lyles, you have to be walking behind GOAT" - LeBron James fans hit out at sprinter as Paris Olympics flag-bearer honor goes to NBA star

Noah Lyles is one of track and field's best known faces and his outspoken personality has gotten the American embroiled in verbal battles on social media more than once. Most recently, fans dragged up the sprinter's "World champion of what?" comments after it was announced that Lebron James would be the country's flag bearer at the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics.

Last year, at the Budapest World Athletics Championships, Lyles was asked at a press conference about the state of track and field as a whole, and towards the end of his answer he put the NBA in his crosshairs while mentioning how athletics needed better exposure.

“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? 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 (the track and field world) 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. We gotta do more. We gotta be presented to the world.”

The comments didn't go down well with the basketball audience, drawing the ire of fans and NBA stars alike.

Now, two-time Olympic gold-medalist LeBron James has been announced as Team USA’s men's flag bearer at the Paris Olympics, and fans have used the opportunity to once again criticize Lyles for his year-old comments. For instance, an X user replied to Team USA's post sharing the news on the platform:

“Noah Lyles you gon have to be walking behind my Goat.”

“'Fastest man in the world' but behind the goat lmaooooo karma,” another commented.

“Isn’t it funny how that works 😭😭,” a third fan chimed in.

On the other hand, some X users were quick to rush to Noah Lyles’ defense, with one writing:

“The whole Noah Lyles thing is just letting me know NBA fans have low comprehension.”

“How do y’all still not understand this s**t. His whole point was that winners of olympics/world cups should be called world champs bc it’s an international competition of nations. If Team USA wins the Olympics and get called world champs, he wouldn’t have an issue with that,” another fan wrote.

“Still butthurt because he said the truth lol,” one X user commented.

Notably, Noah Lyles recently opened up about his thoughts on whether an average person was closer to matching LeBron James' legacy in basketball or to achieving the sprinting greatness of the 2023 World Champion.

---

Noah Lyles makes controversial comments about LeBron James

In a recent appearance on Raymond Parral’s "Starving Artist" podcast, Parral asked Lyles:

“There is this quote by this, I don’t know which NBA player, but he said, ‘I’m closer to LeBron than the average Joe is to me.’ So my question is, is the gap wider between the average Joe and LeBron or the average Joe and you?”

Noah Lyles made some controversial comments about LeBron James in a recent public appearance | Getty Images

Noah Lyles confidently put himself on a pedestal higher than James, saying:

“Well, I’m the third fastest man ever to live. So you are definitely closer to getting to LeBron than me.”

These comments by Lyles also left fans divided, with some agreeing with the sprinter while the others deemed his statement arrogant.