What did Jaylen Brown say to Derrick White after cryptic social media posts?
Team USA is in the midst of their pre -Olympic tour as they gear up for Paris at the end of the month, but Jaylen Brown will not be a part of the team.
There are three members of the NBA Champion Boston Celtics squad on the USA Basketball Team heading to the Paris Olympics at the end of the month, but Jaylen Brown isn’t one of them. Brown made a few posts on social media that could have sat wrong one of his teammates, but he made sure to reach out to his Derrick White to make sure no feelings were hurt.
Finals MVP left off Olympic team
Brown was the NBA Finals MVP, and until recently had the richest contract in the history of the league. This year he has taken his game to another level, not just by becoming a champion, but also a leader on the floor, a lock down defender and of course a super star scorer to made up the best back court in the league with Jayson Tatum.
Tatum is one of three Celtics on the team along with Jrue Holiday and newly named member Derrick White, who was called upon to replace Kawhi Leonard. Brown’s impressive resume wasn’t enough for him to get an invite to the team by managing director of Team USA, Grant Hill, and it seems like Brown suspects a motive for his absence on the roster.
He was clear of his desire to play at the Olympics but he wasn’t named to the initial roster, and again when Leonard was dropped from the roster on July 10th. Brown didn’t take the news lightly or quietly.
Does Nike pull Olympic strings?
The day of the announcement that named White to Team USA over Brown, the Eastern Conference MVP and Finals MVP took to X with a cryptic directed at those in charge of USA Basketball. He post three emojis with the monocle, as to question the decision to leave him off the roster yet again.
There is plenty of speculation that there are external factors outside of basketball that came into play. Jaylen Brown is not sponsored by Nike, who is the official sponsor of the Olympic Team. While he was wearing Nike Air Zoom G.T. Cut 2′s in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, he is not officially signed with Nike. When asked if Nike played a role in him not being on the team, Brown responded, “I do for sure.”
Brown was at the Celtics Summer League game against the Los Angeles Lakers last night in Las Vegas when asked about the situation, but didn’t want to go into much more detail. “I got - it’ll be more stuff to come with that. As of now, I’m not gonna comment on it.”
“No confusion” between White and Brown
One thing he did want to make clear is that he and Derrick White are cool even after his comments and social media posts. “I called Derrick right away,” said Brown. “Just to make sure there’s no confusion, my love for you and all of that. He knew that, and he did. You don’t always gotta make everything public. Me and D-White are good.”
USA director Grant Hill denied Nike having anything to do with the decision, claiming that it was a close call between he and Brown, but backed up is choice saying he is the best choice for the team.
Brown will carry on with his vacations after winning the first NBA title of his career and a record 18th for the Boston Celtics. Derrick White has yet to debut with Team USA in the USA Basketball Showcase after arriving in Abu Dhabi a few days after the rest of the squad did. Team USA plays Serbia on Wednesday, July 17th and White could make his first appearance with this squad.