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.
You can call the Celtics “the world champions” if you want to. You can call USA “the world champions” if you want to. You can call the Harlem Globetrotters “the world champions” if you want to.
But don’t expect every other country to stop laughing at you
High level basketball revolves around the US so their bemoans hold little weight imo.
I imagine Italians care very little on how Englishmen view their pasta.