Josh Hart is coming clean about hating on Noah Lyles at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Like any other American, the Knicks star had a sense of patriotism for Team USA athletes, except for the 27-year-old athlete. Addressing the NBA community's feud with Lyles, Hart admitted he “really wanted him to lose” during Thursday’s episode of the Roommates Show podcast.
NBA star Josh Hart says he wished Noah Lyles lost at Olympics
Speaking to his teammate Jalen Brunson, Hart said, “I feel like for most of these Olympics, I was very patriotic, and I wanted Team USA to win gold.” Upon realising where to conversation was headed, Brunson told the 29-year-old to “let it slide.” However, the Knicks Point Guard himself reignited the topic, asking him, if he were to finish that sentence, what would he have said?
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“I really wanted him to lose,” Hart said of Lyles before adding, “Damn, I wanted him to lose. I think this was the first time that all of the NBA Twitter banded together and was just hatin. I was hatin', and I was just like damn, you know what, respect. I can’t even hate anymore.”
Hart's feud with Lyles stems from a comment the latter made last year about NBA players. After winning three gold medals in the 2023 World Championships, the track and field sprinter bashed pro basketball players, claiming that they don't have the right to call themselves “world champions.”
{{/usCountry}}Hart's feud with Lyles stems from a comment the latter made last year about NBA players. After winning three gold medals in the 2023 World Championships, the track and field sprinter bashed pro basketball players, claiming that they don't have the right to call themselves “world champions.”
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“I have to watch the NBA Finals, and they have ‘world champion’ on their head. World champion of what?” Lyles said at the time. “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.” Lyles' statement became a subject of controversy, with the NBA community since left upset over it.