NBA Star Reveals He 'Really Wanted' Noah Lyles To Lose At 2024 Paris Olympics

One of the biggest storylines at the 2024 Paris Olympics had to be Team USA's track star, Noah Lyles.

The 27-year-old is the face of track at the moment, and thanks to his gold medal in the 100m, he is now the certified fastest man in the world. He became the first American runner to win gold in the race since Justin Gatlin did so at the 2004 games in Athens.

You would think his feat would please fans across the United States? Wrong.

On a recent episode of his podcast " Roommates Show," with fellow Knicks star Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart was discussing where his allegiances were during the Olympics. While he was rooting for Team USA to win in every event, there was one athlete in particular who didn't have his support.

"I feel like for most of these Olympics I was very patriotic," Hart said . "I wanted Team USA to win gold...most every event."

Brunson then implored Hart not to continue with what he was saying but immediately backtracked his request for Hart and did a little instigating.

"But if you were going to continue your statement," Brunson said. "What would you have said?"

This question led to Hart revealing his true feelings.

"I really wanted him [Lyles] to lose," Hart said about Lyles per their podcast's social media page. "Damn, I wanted him to lose boy. I think this was the first time all of the NBA Twitter like banded together and was just hating. I was hating, and I'm just like, damn you know what respect I can't even hate anymore."

While Lyles does deserve all of the credit for his incredible feat, he has certainly burned some bridges with NBA fans and players alike with just one statement.

“You know what hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals, and they have ‘world champion’ on their heads," Lyles said in August 2023 about NBA champions claiming the title of world champions. "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 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.”

These comments led to countless NBA stars like Kevin Durant going after him for his hot take.

"Somebody help this brother," Durant wrote in an Instagram comment after Lyles' take on NBA champions in 2023.

While Lyles made the comments about a year ago, fans didn't forget. Many were hoping he'd lose the 100m race so they could troll him, and many did troll him after he claimed the bronze medal in the 200m and was taken off in a wheelchair due to his battle with COVID-19.

While it may have pained him to do so, Lyles did admit that Team USA should be considered the world champions after beating France in the gold medal game.

"It's not a thing of if I consider or not," Lyles said when asked about whether or not Team USA players could claim the world champion title. "It's ... they are. They're Olympic champions and in the Olympic champions you face the whole world."

Following the Paris Games, there is one sentiment that Hart and can all agree on now, which is that both the basketball team and Lyles are world champions.

Related: Noah Lyles’ Blunt Response To Team USA Being World Champions In Basketball