In his infamous statement, Lyles said “I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have world champion on their heads. World champion of what? The United States?” Turns out, Gregg Popovich said something very similar 13 years ago. Howard shed light on this very comment to show support for the 26-year-old.
Howard put up a post quoting Popovich’s comments in 2010 on his Instagram story. Although he did not caption the story, the quote pretty much spoke for itself. In the quote, coach Pop said “It doesn’t make sense for an NBA team to call themselves World Champions. I don’t remember anybody playing anybody outside our borders to get that tag.”