Stephen A. Smith joined the chat.
The ESPN personality weighed in on the furor surrounding Brown’s cryptic social media posts after guard Derrick White, a teammate of Celtics star Jaylen Brown, was selected for the 2024 USA Men’s Basketball National Team to compete in the Paris Olympics, which begin July 26.
“Can you believe this y’all? Hey (Brown), do I really need to reveal my source now? Isn’t it obvious already? How can a $300 million guy, now a champion, NBA Finals MVP, top 2 player on the Celtics and top 15 player in the world not be selected for Team USA?” Smith wrote in a post by X, which included Brown’s odd post. “Because none of his teammates were mentioned. [Jayson] Will Tatum be picked ahead of him? Good luck guys!!!”
There’s a lot to interpret in Smith’s post.
Brown following the news that White would replace Clippers star Kawhi Leonard on the Olympic roster. Posted some emojis Put a monocle on X He called Nike. “Is this what we’re doing?” the 2024 Olympic uniform designer wrote in another post.
Brown, 27, who is not a Nike athlete, did not elaborate beyond that.
Last July, Brown and the Celtics agreed to a five-year, supermax contract extension worth up to $303.7 million, the largest contract in NBA history at the time.
Celtics star Jayson Tatum, who will represent the team in Paris in 2024, surpassed that record by signing a contract. report He signed a five-year, $315 million supermax contract with Boston earlier this month.
Brown played a key role in leading the Celtics to a five-game victory over the Mavericks in the NBA Finals to win the franchise’s 18th championship in franchise history.
Brown was named Eastern Conference Finals MVP and NBA Finals MVP.
“Do I need to reveal my source now?” Smith’s message was a reference to his criticism of Brown during the playoffs.
In May, Smith reported on “First Take” that Brown was “not as marketable as he should be” because of his “I’m better than you” attitude.
at that time, Brown blamed Smith. “Please cite your sources,” he said in various social media posts.
After winning the Finals MVP award, Brown again criticized Smith. In an Instagram post, he captioned a photo of him holding the trophy, “@stephenasmith please credit source.”
Brown also wore a T-shirt with the message “State Your Source” during the Celtics’ victory parade in Boston.
On Wednesday, the U.S. team announced White would replace Leonard on its Olympic roster that also includes LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry.
“We felt we had to change direction.” “We are thrilled to welcome this new addition to the U.S. Basketball Team,” said Grant Hill, managing director of the U.S. Men’s National Basketball Team.“I’m not going to go into detail about how we arrived at the decision, but we just felt it was in our best interest and in the best interest of the Clippers and Kawhi to move in a different direction.”
Hill also addressed Brown’s social media posts about Nike.
“I’ve worn Fila for the majority of my career.” Hill says“It was meant as a joke. Of course, we’re proud of our partners. … This is about building a team.”
Team USA said the Clippers decided it was in Leonard’s best interest to spend the remainder of the summer preparing for the upcoming NBA season.
In addition to White, the 2024 U.S. Men’s National Team also includes Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat), Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns), Anthony Davis (Los Angeles Lakers), Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves), Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers), Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana Pacers) and July Holiday (Boston Celtics).
The Paris 2024 Games will run from July 26 to August 11.
The U.S. men’s team will open its group stage match against Serbia on July 28.
