Jun 12, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) reacts to the crowd during the fourth quarter during game three of the 2024 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
NBAOlympicsBy Sam Neumann on

Jaylen Brown has been a Nike critic for some time now.

He believes that, in addition to not being a Nike-sponsored athlete, is why he was left off Team USA’s men’s basketball squad ahead of the Paris Olympics in place of Kawhi Leonard. That roster spot went to his Boston Celtics teammate, Derrick White.

The aforementioned response came after Brown’s tweets below:

This isn’t Brown’s first time attacking Nike. He’s previously questioned the company’s stance on ethics regarding Kyrie Irving’s situation.

So when Brown made these comments about being left off the team — again — it made its way back to Grant Hill. The USA men’s national team managing director for the 2024 Paris Olympics joined The Dan Patrick Show on Friday and lamented Hill as a “conspiracy theorist.”

But before that, he explained the thought process of choosing White over Brown.

“I’m glad you brought that up,” Hill told Patrick regarding Brown being left off the roster altogether. “So, we went to training camp, and we didn’t have Kevin Durant; he was coming back from a calf injury. And then Jayson Tatum was late for arrival. He didn’t show up the first two or three days. So, we ended up having to sort of play Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo together, and we didn’t know if that would work. I think that going into camp, we thought, ‘Let’s have three centers,’ much like in ’96 when we had Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, and Shaquille O’Neal. And we’ll rotate; all three of them are different, they provide different things, and so we’ll have sort of a three-headed monster at the center position.

“So, what we found because we didn’t have those numbers the first few days was that Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis can really play well together on both ends of the floor — and at times might be our best defensive lineup. So, we kind of stumbled upon something. We learned something about our group during those four days in Vegas. And so, when we pivoted off of Kawhi Leonard, we said, ‘Okay, we have a little bit of a logjam at the 4 position.’ LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, now Bam Adebayo. All these guys can play the 4, and we envisioned them playing the 4.

“And so, okay, let’s not bring another guy who might play that 3-4 position then. Let’s bring in someone now who can really give us defense at the point of attack. That was also a priority for putting this team together, being able to pick up full-court, guard, and pressure point guards of opposing teams. And Jrue Holiday might be the best in the world at doing this. But having some injuries that we had during camp, what happens if Jrue gets hurt?

“Derrick White might be the second-best in the world at point-of-attack defense. That was sort of the thought process, but we really learned about our team during those days in Vegas…”

Hill said he communicated with his agent when asked if he spoke to Brown about this decision.

“I don’t know if that was before or after things went out on Twitter,” Hill quipped. “But yeah, I think this idea that there’s a conspiracy there — I always love a good conspiracy theory — but it was really, truly a basketball decision. And these are tough decisions… Not to say that he wouldn’t have been good… but for where we were, it was the right decision.”

That somewhat unsurprisingly made its way back to Brown, who didn’t appreciate Hill’s comments.

In the meantime, Brown remains a vocal critic of Nike, so his future with the national team and his relationship with the brand remains to be seen.

[Jaylen Brown, The Dan Patrick Show]

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann