Quoted in 2010:
‘There are no world champions in the NBA, so anybody that has the flag up that says world champions is not correct,’ said Popovich prior to last night’s 94-73 Spurs win. ‘It’s not appropriate. The world champions, I believe, are the Spanish team right now. USA is the Olympic champion. The Lakers are the NBA champion. It doesn’t make sense for an NBA team to call themselves world champions. I don’t remember anybody playing anybody outside our borders to get that tag. Isn’t that true? I keep waiting for somebody to tell me I’ve missed something.’ When someone mentioned Toronto, Pop said, ‘There’s a team in Canada. That’s true. The world’s bigger than North America. I know sometimes we as arrogant Americans don’t respond to the rest of the world, but it’s true. There’s a big world out there.’
Full article: https://www.slamonline.com/archives/gregg-popovich-hates-the-term-world-champions/
This is the dumbest shit ever. The NBA, NFL, and MLB have official names for their champions. World Champions is just a nickname. And btw if the league decides to call them world champions then there’s absolutely nothing anyone can do about it. There’s no governing body on what sports leagues are allowed to call their champions. Hell you could call the winner of your fantasy football league world champions and Roger Goodell won’t come by your house with a cease and desist.