Celtics star Jaylen Brown hints that Nike kept him off Paris Olympics workforce

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When the U.S. men’s basketball staff announced on Wednesday morning that the Los Angeles Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard would be leaving the team to target on the forthcoming NBA period, Jaylen Brown seemed like a feasible substitution. The Boston Celtics guard plays a comparable posture to Leonard, and is emerging from a time in which he made his third All-Star workforce, assisted direct his workforce to an NBA championship, and was named Finals MVP. 

Rather, Crew United states of america chose Brown’s teammate, Derrick White, who will sign up for fellow Celtics player Jason Tatum and Jrue Holiday to spherical out the 12-guy roster heading into the Paris Olympics at the finish of the month. 

Most likely understandably, Brown wasn’t thrilled with the final decision, and the Celtics star took to social media shortly right after the information broke. Only it wasn’t Group Usa he named out—it was the model powering the tiny swoosh on the team’s jerseys.

In a article on X late on Wednesday, Brown challenged Nike, a single of the most important sponsors for the U.S. at the Paris Olympics and longtime partner of United states of america Basketball, asking the clothing corporation “this what we carrying out?”

Contrary to some of Group USA’s major stars, including Kevin Durant, teammate Tatum, and LeBron James—who has a life time offer believed to be valued all over $1 billion—Brown does not have a signature offer with Nike. He had a offer with Adidas for the initially five a long time of his career, and due to the fact then has not signed to a further manufacturer. Above the earlier three seasons, the guard has usually worn Nike’s Kobe Bryant line, but has also worn New Harmony.

To be guaranteed, not all people on Group United states of america is performing small business with the Oregon-headquartered apparel firm. The Golden Point out Warriors’ Stephen Curry has a offer with Beneath Armour, and Minnesota Timberwolves climbing star Anthony Edwards signed a deal with Adidas this week. 

Perhaps even more pertinent, aside from being a absolutely free agent in the shoe sector, Brown has been a vocal critic of Nike in the past. 

Right after Kyrie Irving, the controversial place guard for the Dallas Mavericks and previous Celtic, shared an anti-Semitic movie on Twitter when he was on the Brooklyn Nets back again in 2022, Nike founder Phil Knight claimed Irving had “crossed a line.” 

Brown then took a shot at the enterprise on social media, criticizing Nike’s ethics and implying the brand name was advantage-signaling. 

More not too long ago, during the Celtics’ operate to the championship this 12 months, Brown may possibly have poked the bear once extra. The 27-year-outdated guard wore a variety of Kobe shoes in the course of the year, only with the ubiquitous Nike swoosh notably absent. 

In the meantime, White is coming off what was arguably his greatest season in the NBA because getting into the league in 2017. The 30-year guard averaged 15 factors a recreation previous season taking pictures 46% from the field, and was instrumental in supporting Boston to acquire the championship. 

But Brown, who performs a related situation, scored eight additional factors a sport on a better shooting share, practically 50%, and is broadly regarded as the second-best player on the group powering superstar Tatum. There are now three customers of the 2024 Boston Celtics on the U.S. Olympic squad.

Nike did not immediately answer to a ask for for remark from Fortune.

Pursuing Brown’s newest submit on X, Workforce Usa director Grant Hill denied that Nike experienced everything to do with the final decision to acquire White.

“The obligation I have is to put together a team—and a workforce that enhances each individual other, a staff that matches, a team that will give us the ideal possibility for accomplishment,” Hill reported. “And so whichever theories that may be out there, they are just that. But that’s my accountability.”

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