Knicks guard Josh Hart “hated” Noah Lyles during the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Hart made the admission while discussing the recently concluded Paris Olympics with teammate Jalen Brunson on “The Roommates Show” podcast on Thursday, but did not specify the track and field star’s name.
Lyles hasn’t won many friends in NBA circles since his now-infamous comment last year, “World champions of what?”, mocking the fact that NBA players call themselves world champions when they win the NBA Finals.
Naturally, Hart and Brunson spoke about Lyles in clips posted from the show.
“I guess for most of these Olympics I was very patriotic and wanted the U.S. team to win the gold medal,” Hart began, and Brunson immediately seemed to understand what he meant.
“You could save yourself, just let it flow and keep hustling. There’s no reason to do that,” Branson said.
Hart initially agrees and seems ready to move on, but then the clip cuts to Branson broaching the topic again.
“But if you were going to continue with the statement, what would you have said? If you were going to do that,” Branson added.
“I really wanted them to lose,” Hart responded. “I really wanted them to lose. I think that was the first time that everyone on NBA Twitter was united and just hated each other. I hated, but I was like, oh my God, I respect you. I can’t even hate anymore.”
Lyles won two medals at the Paris Olympics, winning gold in the 100m final, making him the fastest man in the world, and also taking bronze in the 200m, which he competed in despite being infected with COVID-19.
Brunson previously weighed in on the hot topic on social media, responding to a post in which Lyles made comments critical of Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards.
Lyles was commenting in a Time magazine article published in June about being invited to an Adidas event headlined by Edwards.
“What do you want to do? Want to invite me in? [an event for] “A guy who’s never been to an NBA Finals? A sport he doesn’t care about? And you give him shoes?” Lyles said.
The comment, in a sense, Branson joked online. These were posted by an NBA parody account.
After the U.S. men’s basketball team won the gold medal, coach Lyles clarified his earlier comments about Edwards.
“There are rumors going around that I didn’t go. [Anthony Edwards’] “He shouldn’t release the shoes because he doesn’t deserve it,” Lyles wrote to X. “That’s not true. He definitely deserves to release the shoes. He’s a great player. The issue was finding the time based on my previous commitments.”
Congratulations on becoming an Olympic champion!
