Does NBA Champ = World Champ

[RichCTBB]

No flags in the NBA: World champion Noah Lyles stirs up NBA world

United States track and field star Noah Lyles shared his thoughts on the appropriate use of the "world champion" title. Kevin Durant and Devin Booker were among the NBA players to express their displeasure with Lyles' viewpoint.

www.espn.com

My daughter asked me why the NBA champs are world champs when all the teams in the NBA with the exception of Toronto are US based. For decades the US boasted the best talent by miles, but that gap has grown closer and closer. The foreign influence on the league is obvious. WIth the Olympics and the FIBA World Cup gaining more and more global popularity, it seems to me that the NBA champs shouldn’t be considered world champs at all. If it was an international tournament, then, yeah….I could kind of see it, but you don’t see top European soccer clubs claiming the title of world champs.

 

[husky429]

Because the NBA champion would wipe the floor with the champion from any other league. It is kind of silly to call them "world champion," but who is going to challenge that? I would love to see the Euroleague champion get demolished by the NBA champ.

 

[ColchVEGAS]

Same with the MLB. While it's not a "world" league there is no other league that could compete. Take the best team from Korea or Japan and they might win a series against an MLB team here and there but long term they would not fair well at all.

As for European football they have the FIFA Club World Cup yearly to crown what would be the "world champ" although it is not followed by anybody except die hards since there are so many other competitions.

 

[Travelman6]

Not so sure I agree. US dominance in basketball is over. The four best players in the nba are from Serbia, Slovenia, Greece and Canada. Order that however you want for your top 4 but that's it, and add in Kristaps, Sabonis and Embiid and they are beating your top 7 American players.

USA just lost 3 of their last 4 games to Lithuania (quite soundly I might add in a game not as close as the final score would indicate), Germany and Canada and barely ever led vs Canada. Serbia, even without Jokic would win by double digits. Not so sure an aging LeBron would change that, but if you add him, Serbia gets to add Jokic and Serbia still comes out on top. Btw Serbia has that one player who is very good, it's a crime he hasn't had a shot at the nba yet, forget his name, reminds me a little of Divac in look and in game, late 20s guy, thinks he plays in Russia or Greece.

Any way, Usa wants to out athleticism euro teams and out jump them but europe has caught up. It's even, even with a slight edge to Europe.

 

[navery12]

Not so sure I agree. US dominance in basketball is over. The four best players in the nba are from Serbia, Slovenia, Greece and Canada. Order that however you want for your top 4 but that's it, and add in Kristaps, Sabonis and Embiid and they are beating your top 7 American players.

USA just lost 3 of their last 4 games to Lithuania (quite soundly I might add in a game not as close as the final score would indicate), Germany and Canada and barely ever led vs Canada. Serbia, even without Jokic would win by double digits. Not so sure an aging LeBron would change that, but if you add him, Serbia gets to add Jokic and Serbia still comes out on top. Btw Serbia has that one player who is very good, it's a crime he hasn't had a shot at the nba yet, forget his name, reminds me a little of Divac in look and in game, late 20s guy, thinks he plays in Russia or Greece.

Any way, Usa wants to out athleticism euro teams and out jump them but europe has caught up. It's even, even with a slight edge to Europe.

All of your points are irrelevant to the discussion at hand. Sure if you grouped every other country in the world into one team and the US into another the US might lose. You list off how the top 4 players are non-American, but none of them would be playing on the same international team. Now continue down the list and you'll find that 4 or 5 of the next 6 are all American players like LeBron, KD, Steph.

But even ignoring all that, your hypothetical is irrelevant because all those international guys are in the NBA. If there's some sort of matchup to determine a true world champion all those guys are playing for the American champion team from the NBA against some Euro champion

 

[Travelman6]

Europe has caught up to the usa, that's not irrelevant, it's true.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

Europe has caught up to the usa, that's not irrelevant, it's true.

This isn't the best possible team the U.S. could put in, probably far from it, but the team has severe flaws.

 

[HCCForever]

Europe has caught up to the usa, that's not irrelevant, it's true.

Canada caught up as well. Truly embarrassing. First international medal for Canada since 1936.

 

[Beowulf]

the best players in the world play in the nba. i think it's as simple as that. it's not like the league isn't allowing any players from all over the world in. everyone is invited, but only few get selected. to me when you're picking the best players in the world to be in your league, no matter the geography, that's a world league and a world title.

it's like someone mentioned above....this isn't america vs the world we're talking. it's nba vs other leagues. guys who came here to play in the nba don't magically go back to an internationally team to prove a point....they are nba guys. That's why the nba is the best league in the world and the champion is the best "team" in the world.

is the world championship label the most technically sound? maybe not. I just don't think anyone who pays attention to the sport should be that surprised by it. You have a guy winning EuroLeague MVP and Finals MVP who can't even get his team to the playoffs in the nba

 

[HuskyHawk]

Because the NBA champion would wipe the floor with the champion from any other league. It is kind of silly to call them "world champion," but who is going to challenge that? I would love to see the Euroleague champion get demolished by the NBA champ.

Same with the MLB. While it's not a "world" league there is no other league that could compete. Take the best team from Korea or Japan and they might win a series against an MLB team here and there but long term they would not fair well at all.

As for European football they have the FIFA Club World Cup yearly to crown what would be the "world champ" although it is not followed by anybody except die hards since there are so many other competitions.

And both of them, and the NHL are thoroughly international. They already have the best players from around the world. MLB - mostly Latin America, Caribbean and Japan. NHL Canada, US, Nordic countries and eastern European. NBA just drafted a French kid #1 and the best player is either a Greek by way of Africa or a Serbian.