Noah Lyles, a track-and-field sprinter, made headlines when he called out the NBA for referring to an NBA Finals victory as a “world championship.” Lyles was fresh off a victory at the World Athletics Championships when he made the comments. Lyles received backlash from players, analysts, and even Drake. Despite the criticism of his controversial take, Lyles recently doubled down in an interview with GQ.

“A lot of air balls [laughs]. It's just a situation where they finally decided to listen,” Lyles said, via Chris Cohen of GQ Sports. “I've been saying — the whole world, truly, has been saying that for years. It's just this time they paid attention and had an opinion.”

As aforementioned, even Drake weighed in on Noah Lyles' comments. Lyles had a message for the rapper as well.

“There are a bunch of funny things that come from it, like having Drake notice it. Like, Drake, what are you doing here? Go back home. This is an NBA conversation.”

Lyles added that he likes the NBA. He simply just doesn't think that winning the NBA Finals should be referred to as a world championship.

“To be honest, I truly think the NBA is the best. That was never the doubt. But there is a level of not understanding the two sides of sports. There's the national side, and there's the world side, and you can't have the world championship title without facing the rest of the world.”

Noah Lyles stands by his original comments. Many people may have changed their tune after facing such intense backlash from celebrities and NBA players. But Lyles clearly believes in his statement. Whether you agree with him or not, he deserves props for not backing down.