Jaylen Brown was left off of Team USA’s roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics as they decided to go with his teammate Derrick White instead.
Brown was the Eastern Conference Finals MVP, Finals MVP, and undoubtedly the best player on the Celtics championship roster, but three of his Boston teammates were chosen ahead of him to represent the United States in France.
Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum and Derrick White were all chosen to be on Team USA’s 12-man roster, and despite Brown being invited to tryout amongst 28 other players in the NBA, he did not make the final roster.
Is Jaylen Brown mad? Just minutes after it was announced Derrick White would fill Kawhi Leonard’s spot on the team, Brown posted on X three cryptic emojis that suggested he was confused with not being picked. After all, Leonard and Brown play the same position, have very similar skillsets and can both defend at a high level.
🧐🧐🧐
— Jaylen Brown (@FCHWPO) July 10, 2024
If Brown was the next best option, why did Team USA elect to go with Derrick White over the Finals MVP? Some say that they needed a role player, but others think that it could be a deeper issue.
“There seems to be two conversations going on with Jaylen Brown. There’s the matter of…did he deserve to make a team…and then his response to it…how it reflected upon Derrick White who we should be celebrating Derrick White’s promotion to the team,” said John Zannis on the latest episode of The Garden Report.
One component of this conversation is the global brand Nike, and their relationship with Jaylen Brown. In addition to his cryptic message, Jaylen Brown added on X, “@nike this what we doing?”
Im not afraid of you or your resources
— Jaylen Brown (@FCHWPO) July 11, 2024
“There’s definitely a level of subjectivity when your picking a team like this. There’s no science that says this is automatically the best team, and so sure, are there people in the league who don’t like Jaylen Brown, I’m sure. Nobody is universally liked,” said Boston.com and WEEI’s Khari Thompson.
There is no doubt that Team USA will be just fine without Jaylen Brown as the roster is loaded with future Hall of Famers and some of the best players of all-time such as LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant
