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Stephen A Smith Celebrates After Jaylen Brown’s Paris 2024 Olympic Snub By Nike: ‘Reveal My Sources Now?’
Jaylen Brown's omission from Team USA for the Paris 2024 Olympics sparks controversy, with Stephen A. Smith reiterating on X his previous claims about Brown's marketability and ego. Read more below for the full story.
Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown was notably left out of the USA Basketball Men’s National Team roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics, prompting a wave of reactions and speculations. ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith has entered the fray by questioning this decision and then defending his previous claims about Brown’s marketability.
Brown’s exclusion from the US Olympic team, despite his outstanding performances in the 2024 playoffs and accolades, has raised eyebrows. The decision to replace Kawhi Leonard with Brown’s teammate, Derrick White, has added fuel to the controversy.
Stephen A. Smith reiterates his claims on Jaylen Brown’s likeability
Stephen A. Smith has been vocal about his personal views on Brown’s omission from Team USA. Following the announcement of Derrick White's inclusion over Brown, Smith took to social media to reiterate his previous criticisms of Brown’s overall marketability and likeability amongst NBA players.
Smith once questioned how a player of Brown’s caliber, who recently signed a $300 million supermax extension and was named NBA Finals MVP, could be overlooked for the Team USA roster.
“Do y’all believe me now? Yo (Brown), do I need to reveal my sources now? Is it not obvious now? How in the hell is a $300M man — now a champion and an NBA Finals MVP — who’s clearly a top-two player on the @celtics and a Top-15 player in the world, NOT chosen for Team-USA?” Smith posted on X.
Jaylen Brown’s controversial omission from the 2024 USA Basketball Men’s National Team roster for the Paris Olympics fuelled Smith’s opinion about the 27-year-old Celtics star.
Background of the Stephen A Smith and Jaylen Brown feud
The tension between Smith and Brown dates back to May 2024 when Smith reported on “First Take” that Brown wasn’t as marketable as he should be due to his perceived “I am better than you” attitude. Smith mentioned that according to his sources, Jaylen Brown’s ego rubs people the wrong way.
These claims made Brown upset as he responded on X by challenging Smith to reveal his aforementioned sources.
Smith never publicly declared his sources citing journalistic integrity. The feud seemingly slowed down for a while but then Jaylen Brown reignited it by wearing a “State Your Source” T-shirt during the Boston Celtics’ championship parade.
Since Jaylen Brown won the 2024 Finals MVP, Smith could not take a dig at him. However, as soon as news broke out that Jaylen Brown was snubbed for Team USA, it was Stephen A Smith’s turn to reignite the feud, as he reiterated his previous stance that executives and players in the league view Brown less favorably due to his ego.
Despite the criticism, Smith has consistently maintained that he has no personal animosity towards Brown, whom he respects as a player and individual.
Was Jaylen Brown excluded from Team USA due to Nike?
When Jaylen Brown was drafted by the Celtics in 2016, he signed a sneaker deal with Adidas and wore their kicks for the first five seasons of his career. However, his contract expired in 2021, and Brown decided to be a sneaker-free agent for the past three seasons. During this period, Brown primarily wore Nike's Kobe Bryant signature line, occasionally mixing in other brands like New Balance.
In 2022, Brown publicly criticized Nike when the brand dropped Kyrie Irving over social media posts that were widely viewed as antisemitic. This incident was likely Brown's first major conflict with Nike. Despite this, Brown continued to wear Kobe models frequently but then he started wearing some custom models, removing the Nike Swoosh from his sneakers during Boston's championship season, including a notable pair he wore on Christmas Day.
Now, when Brown was snubbed from Team USA, the Celtics star blamed it on Nike, tweeting, “@nike this what we doing?”
According to Brown, his backlash against Nike might have influenced his omission from Team USA. After all, Nike is Team USA's primary apparel brand. Based on Brown's tweet, it seems he believes this is a possibility but according to Grant Hill, Team USA's managing director, the decision to select Derrick White over Jaylen Brown for the national basketball team was solely based on basketball-related factors.
Despite this Team USA setback, Jaylen Brown remains a critical player for the Celtics, who aim for back-to-back titles.
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