Gold Medalist Questions the NBA Champs Being Deemed "World" Champs

[Mirotic12]

There used to be Mcdonald's tournament in the 90"s. Where NBA champions would play European club champions and some other clubs.

Yes, there was the FIBA Intercontinental Cup (sometimes they called it FIBA World Club Championship) from the 1960s to the 1980s. It was the official world club championship. The NBA just didn't want to take part in it.

Then in the 1980s, they switched it up to the McDonald's Championship. and the NBA actually did take part in it. And so by doing so, they could claim the title of world club champions. But the NBA didn't want to keep that going, so that world club tournament was cancelled.

But, then FIBA brought back the world club championship in 2013. It has existed once again, under the current name, which is FIBA Intercontinental Cup, for the last 10 years. Just the fact that NBA players and US sports media don't even seem to realize that there actually is a world club championship for basketball that exists is hilarious.

The NBA champion is invited to it, the NBA refuses to send them, and sends the G-League champs instead. And yet, it's like NBA players don't even know that...............

[JonFromVA]

No, the NBA doesn't meet the minimum requirements for a world championship.

The minimum requirement for a world championship in a team sport is that it includes teams from every continent. The NBA doesn't. It only includes teams from two nations and a single continent. The NBA is a continental championship, not a world championship.

That doesn't mean that the NBA Champion isn't the best basketball club in the world, of course. They absolutely are. And if a world championship for high-level club basketball existed, NBA teams would 100% dominate that championship and win 98% of the time. It's only because such a championship doesn't exist that the NBA Champion cannot accurately be called a World Champion.

No one is disputing that the NBA is the best basketball league in the world. It quite simply isn't the whole world on its own. No single country or continent is the whole world on its own.

You're welcome to express your own opinion based on whichever definition you prefer, but yours is not the only definition.

I'm just using the definition that sports federations around the world use. Nothing more, nothing less. You are free to use your own personal definitions.

I'm perfectly fine with the conclusion that there does not exist a world champion of basketball, but I sure wouldn't let FIBA define the term for me.

[madmaxmedia]

I just want to see the champions of the Taiwan pro basketball league rightfully recognized as the 'Official Past, Present, and Future Champions of the Multiverse (and Beyond)'.

[JonFromVA]

There used to be Mcdonald's tournament in the 90"s. Where NBA champions would play European club champions and some other clubs.

Yes, there was the FIBA Intercontinental Cup (sometimes they called it FIBA World Club Championship) from the 1960s to the 1980s. It was the official world club championship. The NBA just didn't want to take part in it.

The in the 1980s, they switched it up to the McDonald's Championship. and the NBA actually did take part in it. And so by doing so, they could claim the title of world club champions. But the NBA didn't want to keep that going, so that world club tournament was cancelled.

But, then FIBA brought back the world club championship in 2013. It has existed once again, under the current name, which is FIBA Intercontinental Cup, for the last 10 years. Just the fact that NBA players and US sports media don't even seem to realize that there actually is a world club championship that exists is hilarious.

The NBA champion is invited it to it, the NBA refuses to send them, and sends the G-League champs instead. And yet, it's like NBA players don't even know that...............

Why's that ridiculous? Is the NBA leaving billions of dollars on the table by not finding a way to accommodate this?

[Mirotic12]

G League Ignite would beat any other team in the world outside the US. The disparity is just massive. NBA champs are world champs.

The G-League champions have been blown out of every single game they have played at the actual world club championship that does exist. They have only won a single game, against a team from Africa. They usually lose by 15 to 20 points to teams from a secondary level league in Europe (FIBA BCL), and to teams from the Latin American league (FIBA BCL Americas).

The best G-League teams would lose by 30-40 points against any team from the EuroLeague.

[Mirotic12]

Why's that ridiculous? Is the NBA leaving billions of dollars on the table by not finding a way to accommodate this?

If NBA players want to claim they are world champions if they win an NBA title, then they can't duck the actual world basketball club championship. Ducking it, and still acting like you are the world club champion, is absolutely totally ridiculous.

[Domejandro]

While technically true, I gotta keep it real. The delivery on that rehearsed joke comes across incredibly corny.

[Mirotic12]

Should the title of world champion be left to the country that wins FIBA tournaments and the Olympics?

I mean, the team that wins the World Cup is quite literally the World Champion. The team that wins the Olympics is the Olympics Champion and can also call themselves a World Champion since the Olympics are a world tournament.

In both cases, though, we're talking about national teams. Both of those tournaments are national teams only. There isn't a similar competition for professional basketball clubs.

There is a world club championship of professional basketball actually. It's existed since the 1960s....

FIBA Intercontinental Cup

[Jadoogar]

He's basically just arguing semantics. Yes, technically the NBA Champs aren't the "world champs" but there's obviously no doubt this is the best basketball league in the world and the NBA champs should be considered the world champs

Dude is just arguing about grammar and is rightfully getting lit up.

[Dirk]

The NBA Champs can only be crowned World Champs if they beat Shane Larkin and Eddy Tavares.

More seriously, it'd be cool if the NBA/FIBA worked out a small tournament where teams played together in some real games. The whole "World Champs" moniker is silly, even if the NBA Champs are probably far an away better than the Euroleague Champs.

[Mirotic12]

The NBA plays in the US and Canada, but it is truly a world league consisting of the best players from around the world. Until this changes, I see nothing wrong with random 3rd parties using this term. As far as I know the NBA itself does not.

The FIBA/Olympic championships are just an exhibition meant to help popularize the sport wrapped around each nation's flag to fool people in to caring about it. If all we had were national teams and they played together full time and got their salary from the competitions, it would be something else, but it's not.

We already have posts in this very thread showing that yes, the NBA calls its league champions the "world champions".

[ellobo]

[Edit: Just saw the pics of banners posted above with "World Champions" so I guess I'm wrong about no one doing it.]

This is silly.

I never hear anyone refer to the NBA champions as "world" champions. The NBA champion is the NBA champion. The Super Bowl champion is the Super Bowl champion. Even the World Series champion in baseball is the World Series champion. In that case, calling it the "World" Series is nonsensical, but it's still the World Series, not the "world championship." No one says, "It's been a long time since the Yankees won a world championship." They either just say "championship," or "World Series."

[Mirotic12]

Look 100 years ago it made sense to have amateur teams compete and to have the winners of each city or state or whatever local municipality play for a national championship and then it made sense for those national champs to compete for a world champion. We didn't have real pro teams then. We didn't have any way to build WORLD teams so that was the system we had in place. That system is grossly dated in 2023 and makes absolutely no sense today. Just because we have a broken tradition doesn't mean it still makes sense in 2023.

There IS a world club championship for professional basketball teams. The NBA simply refuses to play at it. And it's not even really about what is relevant or not in 2023 either, since it has actually been around since the 1960s.

[dhsilv2]

Look 100 years ago it made sense to have amateur teams compete and to have the winners of each city or state or whatever local municipality play for a national championship and then it made sense for those national champs to compete for a world champion. We didn't have real pro teams then. We didn't have any way to build WORLD teams so that was the system we had in place. That system is grossly dated in 2023 and makes absolutely no sense today. Just because we have a broken tradition doesn't mean it still makes sense in 2023.

There IS a world club championship for professional basketball teams. The NBA simply refuses to play at it. And it's not even really about what is relevant or not in 2023 either, since it has actually been around since the 1960s.

The NBA isn't a club.

[Mirotic12]

Look 100 years ago it made sense to have amateur teams compete and to have the winners of each city or state or whatever local municipality play for a national championship and then it made sense for those national champs to compete for a world champion. We didn't have real pro teams then. We didn't have any way to build WORLD teams so that was the system we had in place. That system is grossly dated in 2023 and makes absolutely no sense today. Just because we have a broken tradition doesn't mean it still makes sense in 2023.

There IS a world club championship for professional basketball teams. The NBA simply refuses to play at it. And it's not even really about what is relevant or not in 2023 either, since it has actually been around since the 1960s.

The NBA isn't a club.

The NBA champions are a professional sports club. And yes, that term "sports club" is used all over the world, including the United States, to refer to professional sports teams. The NBA refuses to send the NBA champions to the official world sports club championship of professional basketball teams, the FIBA Intercontinental Cup, which meets every single criteria you have laid out of your own personal view of what would make an actual world club championship. FIBA Intercontinental Cup is literally what you described yourself. And it has existed since the 1960s, so it's not at all in any way actually a new concept.

Therefore, officially, the NBA champions are not the "world champions".

[Edrees]

This is not a new take lol, we had these debates every single FIBA or olympics season comes in. This guy's acting like he's the first one to come up with this.

My take is that it is kind of dumb to call it World Champs even if it is essentially true in an indirect way (NBA best by far the best league at basketball and best players of the entire world all participating). but the hubris of officially giving it that title is lame

[dhsilv2]

There IS a world club championship for professional basketball teams. The NBA simply refuses to play at it. And it's not even really about what is relevant or not in 2023 either, since it has actually been around since the 1960s.

The NBA isn't a club.

The NBA champions are a professional sports club. And yes, that term "sports club" is used all over the world, including the United States, to refer to professional sports teams. The NBA refuses to send the NBA champions to the official world sports club championship of professional basketball teams, the FIBA Intercontinental Cup, which meets every single criteria you have laid out of your own personal view of what would make an actual world club championship. FIBA Intercontinental Cup is literally what you described yourself. And it has existed since the 1960s, so it's not at all in way actually a new concept like you are claiming.

Therefore, officially, the NBA champions are not the "world champions".

They are a professional sports FRANCHISE!

This is VERY important when talking about why the NBA champions are the world champions. It is a closed league. If you're a team outside of it or a player outside. You don't matter! This assures that the overwhelming majority of talent will go to the NBA. It assures that NBA franchises will generate the most possible money to support paying and bringing in global talent.

That is what this silly "club" title you're talking about doesn't matter. That's a tournament for people not good enough to be in the NBA. If you're not on a franchised team with the NBA, your professional team well don't just don't matter. And it's a real shame Soccer hasn't taken this model up. It would greatly improve the product.

And since you like bold and stuff.

The NBA Champion is the ACTUAL World Champion.

[Mirotic12]

The NBA isn't a club.

The NBA champions are a professional sports club. And yes, that term "sports club" is used all over the world, including the United States, to refer to professional sports teams. The NBA refuses to send the NBA champions to the official world sports club championship of professional basketball teams, the FIBA Intercontinental Cup, which meets every single criteria you have laid out of your own personal view of what would make an actual world club championship. FIBA Intercontinental Cup is literally what you described yourself. And it has existed since the 1960s, so it's not at all in way actually a new concept like you are claiming.

Therefore, officially, the NBA champions are not the "world champions".

They are a professional sports FRANCHISE!

This is VERY important when talking about why the NBA champions are the world champions. It is a closed league. If you're a team outside of it or a player outside. You don't matter! This assures that the overwhelming majority of talent will go to the NBA. It assures that NBA franchises will generate the most possible money to support paying and bringing in global talent.

That is what this silly "club" title you're talking about doesn't matter. That's a tournament for people not good enough to be in the NBA. If you're not on a franchised team with the NBA, your professional team well don't just don't matter. And it's a real shame Soccer hasn't taken this model up. It would greatly improve the product.

Around the world, and in the USA, pro sports franchises are very commonly called sports clubs. This is absolute fact.

[Jables]

It is common to make fun of leagues like the NFL or MLB teams declaring themselves world champions, I don't care, it's just something to make it sound more grand. Call them champions of the universe for all it matters. No one takes it that seriously.

[Mirotic12]

Noah is the latest case of when trying to be smart goes wrong ......

His comments may have had some relevance if he chose another sport but by by choosing the nba he just looks foolish

He won a gold at the world games but you dont have to represent a country to do so and many athletes have competed without representing a "country".

The World Championships are simply considered the highest level of competition for outdoor track and field events in the world and the NBA is considered the highest level of mens basketball competition in the world .

In the Olympics and FIBA a team is chosen to represent the country made of citizens of that country which is what's going on right now in FIBA but that is not considered the best basketball in the world .

Basic premise but horrible example

But there is an official world championship for professional basketball teams. FIBA Intercontinental Cup. The NBA champs are invited to play at it every year by FIBA. If they were to accept the invite and win it, they would be crowned the official world champions of professional club basketball.

The problem is that the NBA refuses to send the NBA champs to it, and instead sends the G-League champs. And the G-League champs get blown out in every single game.

So he didn't actually give a bad example at all. Because the NBA refuses to play at the world pro club championship, and yet claims they are the world pro club champions....so he actually gave a very pertinent example.