The tension between Noah Lyles and the NBA is intensifying.
Comments made by U.S. sprinting star Lyles in a June interview with TIME Magazine have resurfaced after the conclusion of the Paris Olympics.
In the feature by Sean Gregory, Lyles expressed frustration over being invited by Adidas to a shoe-release event last year for Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards, as both athletes are sponsored by Adidas.
Lyles believed he deserved his own signature shoe and subtly criticized Edwards in the interview.
“You want to do what?” Lyles was quoted as saying. “You want to invite me to [an event for] a man who has not even been to an NBA Finals? In a sport that you don’t even care about? And you’re giving him a shoe?
“No disrespect, the man is an amazing athlete,” added Lyles of Edwards. “He is having a heck of a year. I love that they saw the insight to give him a shoe, because they saw that he was going to be big. All I’m asking is, ‘How could you not see that for me?’”
Lyles’ critical comments about Edwards quickly spread online on Sunday. Among those who responded was New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson. Expressing his disbelief, Brunson tweeted, “Damn I thought this was Centel,” referencing NBACentral, a popular basketball aggregator on X, and its fictional parody page, NBACentel, which shares false information.
In the original interview, Gregory mentioned that Lyles was negotiating a contract extension with Adidas when they invited him to Edwards’ shoe-release event.
Since then, the two parties have reached a new agreement, which Gregory highlighted as Adidas’ most lucrative track-and-field contract since the Usain Bolt era.
Lyles, who won gold in the men’s 100m race at this year’s Olympics, has a history of conflict with NBA athletes. Last year, Lyles stirred controversy by criticizing the use of the term “world champions” to describe the NBA Finals winner, a comment that didn’t sit well with several NBA stars. Team USA even took a jab at Lyles earlier this weekend after winning their own Olympic gold.
As a six-time world champion in sprinting, Lyles is correct that Edwards has yet to achieve the highest level in his league.
However, Edwards, at just 23, is already one of the NBA’s rising stars and is significantly more marketable than any track-and-field athlete today. But convincing Lyles of that might be impossible, given the evident tension between him and the NBA community.
