"This is why Anthony Edwards has his own shoe"; "He gonna beef with Serbians now" - Fans react as Noah Lyles claims he doesn't who Nikola Jokic is

Noah Lyles faced criticism from fans online after he claimed he doesn't know who the NBA's Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic is. He made the comment while defending his "world champions" remark about the NBA.

In an interview on the "Nightcap" podcast with Shannon Sharpe and Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson, Lyles maintained that the NBA should not refer to title winners as 'world champions'. When asked about one of the top players in the NBA, Jokic, Lyles claimed that he did not know who the Serbian basketballer was.

Jokic is widely regarded as one of the greatest centers of all time. He recently guided Serbia to a bronze medal in the men’s basketball event at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

As Lyles was defending his comments about the NBA's champions, Sharpe cut him short and said:

"Is Nikola Jokic one of the best players in the world?"

"Imma be honest, I don’t know who that is," Noah Lyles said in response.

Fans did not take Lyles' comments lightly as they responded to the snippet of the interview shared on X (formerly Twitter). One fan wrote:

"This is why Anthony Edwards has his own shoe."

"He needs to stop yapping, Jesus. I enjoy his energy & joy, but bro, he's a multiple-time MVP. Lol," another said.

"Bro is such a troll 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 he gonna have beef with Serbians now," a third fan said.

Here are a few more reactions from fans online:

"I had no idea who he was until he started hating on players I actually heard of," another fan said.

"Stop giving this guy attention please," a fan wrote.

"Ok Noah you’re doing a little too much," another fan commented.

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Noah Lyles sends stern message to NBA players

Noah Lyles - Source: Getty

Noah Lyles claimed that he does not share any relationship with players from the NBA following his remarks about them calling themselves 'world champions'.

In a post-race interview at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, the reigning Olympic 100m champion questioned why they refer to themselves as world champions.

"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. 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...We are the world," he said.

Lyles defended his statement in a recent interview with BuzzFeed, where he was informed that a few NBA players watched his 100m final race at the Paris Olympics. In the event, Lyles pipped Kishane Thompson to take the win, clocking a personal best time of 9.79s. Thompson and Fred Kerley finished second and third after clocking 9.79s and 9.81s respectively.

"I didn't have a relationship with them then, and I guess I don't have one now. They talk about me more than I talk about them," Lyles said.

He added:

"I'm very happy that they came to watch because I made a tweet or a post a while ago, and I was addressing people who love me and hate me, and I said, ‘No matter what, you still watched, didn't you?’ That's the funny part, because you know, no matter how people see you, they're still going to watch whether they're there to watch you fail or watch you succeed."

Lyles competed in the 200m final as well where he finished third after clocking 19.70s. Letsile Tebogo won the race in 19.46s while Kenny Bednarek finished an impressive second in 19.62s.