Celtics

Jaylen Brown said he called Derrick White after Team USA snub

“My reaction was I was happy for D-White. Stoked to have so [many] of our guys on there."

By Conor Ryan

July 16, 2024

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Celtics star Jaylen Brown has not held back when it comes to venting his frustrations about getting left off Team USA’s roster for the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. 

Since finding out that he was overlooked once again for a spot on Team USA after Kawhi Leonard was ruled out of participating in the Olympics last week, Brown has taken to social media on several occasions to make his opinions known.

Brown, who has butted heads with Nike — Team USA’s lead sponsor — for years now, has seemingly insinuated that the sporting attire giant played a role in him losing his spot in the upcoming Summer Games. 

Speaking on Monday at the NBA’s Summer League in Las Vegas, Brown once doubled down on his sentiment that Nike has played a part in his omission on the international stage.

“I do, for sure,” Brown said when asked about Nike, per MassLive’s Souichi Terada. “There’ll be more stuff to come of that. But, as of now, I’m not going to comment on it.”

While Brown — who won both Eastern Conference Finals MVP and NBA Finals MVP honors this spring with the Celtics — has a valid case to be upset about his roster snub, his vocal comments do create a bit of an awkward situation. After all, it was his Boston teammate, Derrick White, who earned the spot over him after Leonard was ruled out. 

But Brown cleared the air on Monday, noting that his candid comments directed toward Nike were not intended as a slight against White and his validity on Team USA’s roster.

“I called Derrick right away,” Brown said, per Terada. “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. … My reaction was I was happy for D-White. Stoked to have so [many] of our guys on there. So I was happy for those guys. But I wasn’t surprised.”

Speaking last week, USA basketball managing director Grant Hill stressed that finding the proper replacement for Leonard was a tough call. Even though Brown is held in higher regard than White as a star talent, White’s 3-point shooting and defensive capabilities made him an appealing asset for Team USA. 

“This is about putting together a team,” Hill noted. “Just kind of overall, you have incredible interest from an abundance of talent that we have here in the United States. I’ve talked a little about when we assembled this roster.

“You have 12 spots; you have to build a team. One of the hardest things is leaving people off the roster that I’m a fan of, that I look forward to watching throughout the season, throughout the playoffs.”

For Brown, the next step is to prep for a title defense in Boston for the 2024-25 season. 

“Right when that burden gets alleviated, you get more motivation to follow it,” Brown told Terada. “For me, it’s back to ground one. My mindset is championship is over now. Now, we gotta get back to work.”