“I’m a fan, but he be tripping.” Udonis Haslem was tired and a year later he still has not forgotten Noah Lyles and the controversial comment. The 27-year-old said, “World champion of what? The United States? Don’t get me wrong, I love the US – at times – but that ain’t the world.” The comments from the Miami Heat legend came up when he spoke to another track and field athlete. Twanisha Terry tried avoiding the topic, but the VP of basketball operations at Miami Heat was ready with his counter.

“Damn right, sh**, I got three. You can’t diminish my goddamn Championship. We won one against San Antonio with Manu Ginobili on the team.” Udonis Haslem continued on his OGs Podcast, “Ain’t nothing better came out of French than Tony Parker. Ain’t nothing better came out of Spain than Manu Ginobili. So I’m a goddamn world champion in my eyes.”

His highly charged emotional response came when his co-host, Mike Miller, went on a rant against Noah Lyles. But before dissecting Miller’s rant, there were some factual inaccuracies in Udonis Haslem’s reaction. He called Ginobili a European player, when in fact he was Argentinian. But the important thing the 20-year Heat veteran wanted to point out was that the best players from all over the world play in the NBA. As of last season, there were 125 international players from 40 different countries. So the champions of the league should be called World Champions he reasons. Mike Miller had a similar answer for Lyles.

“I’m with you though, UD. He’s tripping on some stuff because the best world players come over and play in our league anyway. So world championships are world championships. We got two of them, UD.” Even Miller made the factually incorrect statement when he pointed out that UD and he had won 2 Championships. But he corrected it soon after and apologized.

Now speaking about Noah Lyles, another NBA veteran wasn’t ready to move past another controversy surrounding the track star.

Gilbert Arenas critiques Noah Lyles

“Y’all crazy, man. Over here talking about ‘he really had COVID.’ No the f**k he didn’t.” Gilbert Arenas made this statement on his podcast when the sprinter failed to win Gold in the 200m race. Lyles finished third, and after the race was exhausted and even fell on the side of the tracks. At the time, nobody knew he was diagnosed with Covid.

“You can’t be Superman before, and then all of a sudden, your *ss is the sickest man walking this planet.” The Wizard star raised the question because the 100m Gold medalist at the 2024 Olympics was full of energy before the race. As he jumped around the tracks while the chants of ‘USA’ refused to die down.

But Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo came on top with 19.46 seconds, and Kenny Bednarek second in 19.62 seconds. The former won his first Olympic gold, while Lyles had to settle for the Bronze position with 19.70 seconds. People may speculate about the diagnosis, but the feat for Lyles was nothing easy. Maybe that’s why even NBA veterans, including Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller, don’t like it when their accomplishments are belittled.

“Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.”