Joakim Noah reveals how Cleveland native confronted him in Mexico over his decade-old Cavs diatribe

Former NBA All-Star Joakim Noah recently appeared on the Knuckleheads podcast and told a hilarious story about an experience he had in Mexico.

“Some dude comes up, he like, ‘Yo, you Steven Adams?'” Noah explained during the podcast appearance. “I’m like, ‘Nah.’ He like, ‘Yeah, you look like Steven Adams.’ … He’s like, ‘Yeah, you know, I’m from Cleveland.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, okay.’ This dude trying to clown me and s— off of Cleveland. I’m like, ‘Damn, bro, that was 10 years ago, and y’all still on that.’ People always on that, yo. Yo, Cleveland on vacation. But what it is is also — people be on that crazy — but what it is is just LeBron [James] is a great player. I just wanted everybody to know when we played against him that it wasn’t gonna be like — we was gonna go at him. It wasn’t gonna be no lovefest. I hated that lovefest s—.”

Noah made waves many years ago when he infamously suggested that Cleveland wasn’t a great city. He made the claim multiple times. It sounds like some folks are never going to let him live that down.

The 2019-20 season was Noah’s last in the NBA. He had a long and successful career. He finished his NBA stint with averages of 8.8 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.

The former first-round pick was named to two All-Star teams during his playing days. His impact didn’t always show up in the box score. He was a hustle player and an elite defender.

The big man never won an NBA title, though he was a part of some deep playoff runs. Fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers might not be too fond of him for his comments about Cleveland, but the majority of fans around the NBA would agree that he had a solid career.