USA Basketball had perhaps the most predictable social media post of the year after the men’s team’s gold-medal victory.
The United States earned Olympic gold with a 98-87 win over host nation France on Saturday. It marked the fifth consecutive gold in the competition for the U.S. as well as their 17th Olympic gold overall in men’s basketball.
After the final buzzer sounded, USA Basketball’s official account on X got shady with U.S. sprinter Noah Lyles. It posted a picture of the team’s gold-medal ceremony along with the caption, “Are we the World Champs now?”
That was an obvious reference to the comments Lyles made last year questioning why the phrase “world champions” was used to describe the winner of the NBA Finals. The controversial take from Lyles angered many notable NBA stars, including several who were on this year’s Olympic team.
Saturday’s gold-medal game was yet another reminder that the very best basketball players in the world indeed play in the U.S. as part of the NBA. As for Lyles, he gets to go home with a gold medal from the Paris Games too, so both sides got their moment in the end.
