The real winners are those who avoid getting caught up in discussions about silly topics such as who can call themselves “world champion” and who cannot – Dirk Nowitzki knows this.

So he diplomatically laughed it off, saying that perhaps both the champion of the world’s best professional league and the reigning FIBA ​​world champion in international soccer have a claim to the designation. In an interview on the BasketNews podcast while hanging out at the Paris Olympics, Nowitzki was asked about the ongoing debate over the use of the term “world champion.”

“I would say both,” Nowitzki said at first. But as he got into the conversation, he revealed a pretty clear position that many international players and fans also hold. The way host Donatas Urbonas asked Dirk the question revolved around Dirk’s NBA career with the Dallas Mavericks and his history representing his country – who is the real world champion, Dirk, the 2011 Mavericks or the 2023 German national team (which beat a Nikola Jokic-less Serbian team 83-77 in the final of the 2023 FIBA ​​World Cup)?

The global debate flared up again last year when American sprinter Noah Lyles, who won gold in the 100 meters and bronze in the 200 meters at the 2024 Games, criticized the NBA’s use of the term “world champion” in the context of an attempt to promote international athletics and distinguish it from professional sport. Like Sprinter, he is always ready to provide a quote.

“What hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have ‘World Champions’ on their heads,” Lyles said during a press conference in 2023. “World Champions of what? The United States?

Despite Lyles’ theatrics, he’s right, and it’s not lost on us that he said these things the same year the U.S. team suffered a terrible defeat at the World Cup: losing in the semifinals to eventual champions Germany and then losing to Canada in the third-place match. While he took a much more diplomatic stance on the podcast than Lyles did a year ago, Dirk argued a similar point after his initial “both” answer.

“You know, as far as the title goes, the German team is (really) the world champions in 2023,” Nowitzki continued. “I like ‘NBA Champs.’ For me, that’s fine. … Leave the ‘world championships’ to someone else. I understand that. The NBA is the best league in the world, and of course, if you win it, you call yourself world champions. But technically it’s not a world championship, so I understand both sides. I’ve played FIBA; I’ve played NBA, so I understand both arguments. I’m not sure there’s really a right argument.”

And you hit the nail on the head, Dirk.

An easy way to free yourself from deciding where you stand on the issue? Just win one of both: a gold medal and an NBA championship. Six players on the 2024 U.S. men’s national team can now call themselves “world champions,” no matter which side of the debate over use of the term dominates the other, after the U.S. defeated France 98-87 in the gold medal game of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Bercy Arena on Saturday. Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Steph Curry, Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday and Anthony Davis have now all won at least one of both: an NBA world championship and Olympic gold.