While not giving away everything, Jaylen Brown shared a few more details about his experience on Monday night.
In his first press conference since the U.S. selected Derrick White over Brown to replace Kawhi Leonard on the 2024 Paris Olympic team, Brown downplayed White’s selection and expressed joy in White’s performance on the U.S. team alongside fellow Celtics Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday.
“I wasn’t surprised,” Brown told reporters in Las Vegas before the Celtics’ win over the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Summer League, as seen in the video above, “But my reaction was I was happy to have D. White out there. It was great to have a bunch of our guys out there. I was happy for our guys, but I wasn’t surprised.”
Brown said last week. Nike is (Team USA’s official apparel sponsor) His previous criticism of the apparel giant led to him being left out of the U.S. national team, and the reigning NBA Finals MVP doubled down on his stance on Monday night.
“Absolutely,” Brown said when asked if he believed Nike played a role in him not being selected for the national team. “There will be more to come, but I’m not going to comment on that right now.”
Brown also clarified that his anger was directed at Nike, not White, for ignoring him, and added that he had reached out to his Celtics teammates to set the record straight.
“Absolutely. I called Derrick right away to make sure there was no misunderstanding about the love I had for him and all of that, and he knew,” Brown said. “And he knew. You don’t always have to make everything public, but me and D. White are good friends.”
Brown’s feud with Nike hasn’t seemed to affect his relationship with his teammates, especially White, who played a key role in helping the Celtics win the 2024 championship and just agreed to a four-year, $125.9 million contract extension with Boston.
The best-case scenario for the Celtics would be for Brown to maintain a strong relationship with his teammates while also finding the added motivation of not being on the U.S. national team roster. And that appears to be what is likely.
“I’m super excited,” Brown said about missing out on the Olympics. “I’m super motivated to go and improve. Honestly, I’m happy.”
