Jaylen Brown’s exclusion from the USA Men’s Basketball team for the 2024 Olympics has raised many eyebrows. The 2024 Finals MVP publicly blamed Nike for his snub from Team USA. Many former players have supported Brown’s sentiment that Nike has either directly or indirectly ensured that their players get precedence on the Paris Olympics roster. In fact, Gilbert Arenas recently called Team USA a Nike event that actively sidelines non-Nike athletes.
Advertisement
A few days after that, Arenas’ co-host Rashad McCants also talked about Nike’s alleged role in excluding Brown from Team USA on the Gil’s Arena show.
McCants pointed out that Brown had supported Kyrie Irving in 2022 after Nike dropped the latter for sharing a link to an antisemitic movie on X(then Twitter). Back then, Brown had scoffed at the notion of the sportswear brand caring about ethics. McCants stated that the Celtics star, who is the Vice President of the Players Association, had to take a firm stance to defend his peer.
The former NBA star also pointed out that since then, Brown, who wears Nike’s Kobe edition shoes, has hidden the Nike logo as a sign of protest.
“Jaylen Brown sided with Kyrie Irving. He spoke out against Nike dropping Kyrie. Nike dropped Kyrie after the post, Jaylen Brown didn’t like that, I think he was the President of the Players’ Association at the time, he was obligated to speak out about what Nike did, why they did it, he didn’t like it. He was wearing Kobes at the time, so he started covering up his Kobes.”
McCants then added that media outlets like ESPN then started to peddle narratives such as Brown’s lack of marketability, which could very well be at the behest of Nike. But the move backfired immensely after the Celtics guard lifted the NBA Finals MVP trophy, making a strong case for his inclusion in Team USA.
Meanwhile, Arenas lamented shoe brands imposing their rivalry on young athletes. He observed that if one has to become an Olympic participant, then they are forced to wear Nike.
He also noted how all this is only driving a wedge in the Celtics’ roster. Because Brown’s teammate Derrick White was picked ahead of him after Kawhi Leonard dropped out of the Team USA roster.
At any rate, it is not just NBA athletes who have criticized Nike for sidelining non-Nike athletes.
Keyshawn Johnson backs Jaylen Brown’s stance
A few days ago, former New York Jet Keyshawn Johnson also showed full support for Jaylen Brown. He felt that Brown has rightfully blasted Nike since they dropped Irving in 2022. He appreciated the 2024 Finals MVP for doubling down on his critique two years after defending Kai.
For Johnson, the Celtics’ elite two-way guard has made it clear that he won’t bow down to Nike under any circumstances. On UNDISPUTED, Johnson said,
“When you think about what he said about the ethics of Nike and how they treated the Kyrie [Irving] situation… Jaylen said, ‘I’m not afraid of y’all’. Now he came back here on July 11th and said the same thing… They [Nike] ain’t getting no free advertisement on him in the Olympics…”
These accusations raise serious questions about Team USA’s selection procedure. Can the sponsor of the squad really have so much influence that they can snub MVP-level players who disapprove of them? The magnitude of these accusations has put the selection committee under the radar, raising serious questions about their integrity.
