I understand this topic has been done to death, but it seems completely asinine that this discussion has been reduced to pure semantics since the US’ triumph.
It comes across as completely obtuse to say there is any material difference between the FIBA World Cup and Olympics outside of the name. I mean, if you really want to get into the weeds of it the World Cup is a QUALIFIER for the Olympics so clearly it shouldn’t be held in such high regard. It just seems some are going out of their way to completely ignore the obvious hierarchy of basketball internationally in order to keep their pride intact.
It’s actually the word “FIBA”
They say there’s only one definition, but then there were actually 3 different “World Champions” in 2023 according to FIBA: Germany, Lenovo Tenerife, and Sesi Franca.
They say adding a word as a qualifier doesn’t count like “NBA World Champion”, but FIBA has a “Club World Champion”
They say it has to be a competition from teams around the world, but the Olympics don’t count
In the end, the NBA and Olympics are what represent the best players from around the world, but if we give them a title that accurately reflects that, it’s arrogant and disrespectful.
So let’s stop using the word “World Champion” and let them get upset about the next stupid thing that no one cares about, like being invited to shoe-releases.