Jaylen Brown–USA Basketball Feud Escalates Over Snub, Nike Allegations

There’s a new chapter in the feud between Celtics star Jaylen Brown (above, right) and USA Basketball.

Brown has been public about his displeasure over being snubbed from the U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team. The 2024 NBA Finals MVP was not selected to the original roster announced in April, then essentially missed the team again earlier this month when it chose his Celtics teammate Derrick White to replace Kawhi Leonard.

Grant Hill, managing director of the U.S. men’s basketball team, explained on The Dan Patrick Show how they decided to select White over Brown and other candidates.

Hill’s reasoning was that the team discovered in its practices leading up to the Olympics that they wanted to play a bench lineup that featured Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis, two players they had originally envisioned as centers. That decision created a “logjam” at the four position.

“LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum (above, left), now Bam Adebayo—all these guys can play the four and we envision them playing the four,” Hill said. “And so O.K., let’s not bring another guy who might play that three-four position in. Let’s bring in someone now who can really give us great defense at the point of attack.”

A Conspiracy Theory?

Brown’s public criticism of USA Basketball started after White’s selection. He posted several cryptic tweets, but took one direct shot at Nike, implying that the brand that sponsors the U.S. team influenced the selection.

Brown posted on July 10 asking Nike, “this what we doing ?”

Less than a week later at NBA Summer League, Brown, who has not signed a sneaker deal since his contract with Adidas expired in 2021, was asked whether he thinks Nike played a part in the decision to leave him off the roster.

“I do for sure,” Brown said. “There will be more stuff to come with that. As of now, I’m not gonna comment on it.”

Hill denounced Brown’s comments, stressing that the decision was based on finding the right “balance” for the team’s roster.

“I think this idea that there’s a conspiracy theory—I always love a good conspiracy theory—but it was really, truly a basketball decision.”

To Hill’s point, Tatum, Brown’s teammate on the Celtics and Jordan Brand athlete, was a DNP-CD in Team USA’s dominant 26-point win over Serbia on Sunday, while its Celtics counterparts Jrue Holiday and White both received significant minutes as role players. 

But Brown clapped back at Hill, particularly at his use of the term “conspiracy theory,” noting it was disappointing and that he has been “a VP since I was 21 years old,” referring to his position as a vice president for the National Basketball Players Association. He was selected by his peers in 2019—though he was 22 at the time.

Brown followed his response to Hill by retweeting a post regarding sneaker politics and the Olympics, citing the famous 1992 Dream Team that was sponsored by Reebok. Michael Jordan, a Nike athlete, famously covered up the Reebok logo during the team’s medal ceremony.

While Brown called foul at Hill’s comments, this isn’t the first time he’s been embroiled in issues related to conspiracy theories. In 2022, Brown retweeted, then deleted a post that indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic vaccine was not meant to protect the public.