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

[Jazz9]

Nobody calls the NBA champs "World Champs", he must be thinking of baseball, which is understandable because he doesn't compete in a real sport.

[eyeatoma]

Nobody calls the NBA champs "World Champs", he must be thinking of baseball, which is understandable because he doesn't compete in a real sport.

Sprinting isn't a real sport?

So, Usain Bolt wasn't a real athlete?

Interesting take

+1 Probably one of the most iconic names and faces in the world. The 100 meter race is quite possibly the most famous athletic event in the world lol.

[eyeatoma]

What's more amusing is that in the age of wokeness and political correctness (I agree it's gotten out of hand), you'd think this would be one of the first things that's corrected. Cultural sensitivity is still something some countries could get a lesson or two in.

[Sedale Threatt]

Nobody calls the NBA champs "World Champs", he must be thinking of baseball, which is understandable because he doesn't compete in a real sport.

I used to think we’d gotten away from it as well, but from the Warriors’ recent championship just a year ago:



The Bucks did the same thing. It’s amusing how upset people get over this, but it’s also a pretty dumb practice.

[Arco Thunder]

What's more amusing is that in the age of wokeness and political correctness (I agree it's gotten out of hand), you'd think this would be one of the first things that's corrected.

There is nothing to correct. Best team in the highest competition = World Champs. NBA is international and the players are not all American. The teams location has nothing to do with its players or staff nationality.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

He's right but at the very least the NBA at least draws a lot it's talent from the world now. I feel like the MLB calling their championship the world series is a lot more egregious

[Arco Thunder]

He's right but at the very least the NBA at least draws a lot it's talent from the world now. I feel like the MLB calling their championship the world series is a lot more egregious

Why? have you ever seen an MLB team?

[Nuntius]

So what would the requirements be for a world champ?

I'll start with the most obvious. to be a world champ, there can't be restriction for who can be on a team. So you can't limit it by things like race, religion, nationality. What else would you require?

Basically, a tournament like the one happening this very moment (the FIBA World Cup) but with clubs instead of national teams.

Clubs? Why wouldn't you have actual professional teams? But we already do just that. That's what the NBA is. It's an international professional league of the best players in the world.

By clubs, I don't mean country clubs. I mean actual professional teams. But that's my bad for using a term that may not be popular in the States.

As for the second part. The NBA only has teams from 2 countries. USA and Canada. It is indeed technically an international professional league but it only represents a single continent. Therefore, it cannot be consider a world championship if we wanna be technical about it. At most, it's a continental one (and it isn't truly a continental one since Mexico isn't represented but that's another discussion).

If we want to be accurate about it, for something to be considered a world championship, all continents need to be represented (well, all continents that contain actual nation-states, no one's talking about Antartica). Association football used to have a cup that was played between the winner of the Champions League (UEFA) and the winner of the Copa Libertadores (CONMEBOL). So, basically the winners of the most prestigious intercontinental competitions in Europe and South America, the two strongest regions. But since not every continent was represented, it wasn't a true world championship. So, it got replaced.

Now, there's the FIFA Club World Cup (hence why I used the term club before, being raised in a country that loves association football my mind defaults to its terms). The FIFA Club World Cup is a cup that is contested by the winners of the continental competitions (AFC Champions League, CAF Champions League, CONCACAF Champions Cup, CONMEBOL Libertadores, OFC Champions League and UEFA Champions League) along with the national championship of the country that is hosting the competition. Therefore, every continent is represented and the winner of the cup can call themselves a true world champion.

Are all the best teams in the world present in the FIFA Club World Cup? No, not really. It is entirely possible that a number of teams in the stronger regions (UEFA and CONMEBOL) are much stronger than the winner of the OFC Champions League (just to use as an example). But that's how world championships work across all sports. It is about every continent being represented (an idea pioneered by the Olympics). That's what makes it a world championship.

Would I want to see a similar competition in basketball? Sure, it would be fun. The more basketball, the better. Is it a problem that such a competition doesn't exist? Nah. It's a pretty minor thing overall. Besides, I don't think that basketball is not yet global enough to have this kind of competition.

[eyeatoma]

What's more amusing is that in the age of wokeness and political correctness (I agree it's gotten out of hand), you'd think this would be one of the first things that's corrected.

There is nothing to correct. Best team in the highest competition = World Champs. NBA is international and the players are not all American. The teams location has nothing to do with its players or staff nationality.

Lol, just no. Again, these excuses are getting worse the more people try to defend it.

[Arco Thunder]

What's more amusing is that in the age of wokeness and political correctness (I agree it's gotten out of hand), you'd think this would be one of the first things that's corrected.

There is nothing to correct. Best team in the highest competition = World Champs. NBA is international and the players are not all American. The teams location has nothing to do with its players or staff nationality.

Lol, just no. Again, these excuses are getting worse the more people try to defend it.

You can't argue it.

[ropjhk]

Which team would win between the Denver Nuggets vs. the FIBA world cup champs. Do you rank the Nuggets ahead of team USA?

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

[eyeatoma]

Which team would win between the Denver Nuggets vs. the FIBA world cup champs. Do you rank the Nuggets ahead of team USA?

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

Yes

[NoDopeOnSundays]

He's right but at the very least the NBA at least draws a lot it's talent from the world now. I feel like the MLB calling their championship the world series is a lot more egregious

Why? have you ever seen an MLB team?

I have, and the bulk of the foreign players are Dominican. There's more variance in where the foreign born players are from in the NBA.

[eyeatoma]

There is nothing to correct. Best team in the highest competition = World Champs. NBA is international and the players are not all American. The teams location has nothing to do with its players or staff nationality.

Lol, just no. Again, these excuses are getting worse the more people try to defend it.

You can't argue it.

I have argued it two pages back, and many agree with my argument. If you want to see my argument, read the thread. I don't need to repeat myself.

[Jazz9]

What's more amusing is that in the age of wokeness and political correctness (I agree it's gotten out of hand), you'd think this would be one of the first things that's corrected.

There is nothing to correct. Best team in the highest competition = World Champs. NBA is international and the players are not all American. The teams location has nothing to do with its players or staff nationality.

And has already been said it still doesn't make sense.
The Champions League is a competition between the very best european soccer teams, the most elite club competition there is in the world and yet the winner isn't a "world champ".
Because it makes no sense

[Arco Thunder]

The NBA doesn’t call its champion the world champion so what does it matter? No surprise this is pushed by a European source as they are always hung up about what Americans think and say for some reason. Right up there with “it’s called football not soccer”. Live your own lives and stop worrying about this stuff…

It is called football.

Soccer is a name used by Americans (initially actually created by the Brits to differentiate between Rugby and Football) to differentiate it from their own, American football. They had to call it American Football, because Football was already taken.

Some interesting background history...

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/25/world-cup-2022-why-americans-call-football-soccer

The British called it Soccer interchangeably with Football until very recently (2000's) They even had a TV show called Soccer today for a long time. That's where we got the name and for some reason this is used as an example of arrogant Americans trying to either steal the name Football for our sport or forcibly change the name to Soccer Australians also call it soccer but for some reason you never hear complaints about that....I wonder why.

[cam24thomas]

That’s not the conversation. It’s players in the NBA versus players outside the NBA. There is no team outside the NBA that can hang with the worst NBA team.

That’s the difference from other sports like football where that’s not true for any particular league.

So what, you can say the same about football (the actual football, not the NFL). The best American teams (MLS) would be demolished by most decent football clubs abroad, doesn't even need to be a national team. You don't hear them calling themselves world champions.

No I’m talking about football (soccer) there are other teams in other leagues that can beat for example teams in the premier league. There is no one football league that has a monopoly on the best teams like the NBA does.

But isn't the NBA known for being soft?

[TroubleS0me]

He looks like Pop Smoke RIP

[eyeatoma]

The NBA doesn’t call its champion the world champion so what does it matter? No surprise this is pushed by a European source as they are always hung up about what Americans think and say for some reason. Right up there with “it’s called football not soccer”. Live your own lives and stop worrying about this stuff…

It is called football.

Soccer is a name used by Americans (initially actually created by the Brits to differentiate between Rugby and Football) to differentiate it from their own, American football. They had to call it American Football, because Football was already taken.

Some interesting background history...

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/25/world-cup-2022-why-americans-call-football-soccer

The British called it Soccer interchangeably with Football until very recently (2000's) They even had a TV show called Soccer today for a long time. That's where we got the name and for some reason this is used as an example of arrogant Americans trying to either steal the name Football for our sport or forcibly change the name to Soccer Australians also call it soccer but for some reason you never hear complaints about that....I wonder why.

Read the article, the British actually have stopped using the word soccer for a while. Just because one show uses it, doesn't mean an entire nation calls it soccer. That's like saying the US supports everything Fox News says.

[pbernardi]

I think it is possible that a NBA champion team lose a 7-game series to a Euroleague champion under FIBA rules.

But absolutely not possible under NBA rules.