This is an interesting situation that has developed between two basketball greats from the United States. In this case, the basketball situation might have something to do with something personal, after Team USA managing director and former NBA player Grant Hill has talked about a current star.
Celtics All-Star Jaylen Brown was not selected to the final roster of the team that represented the country in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and now there is a feud with the Olympic boss.
Nike is a Team USA sponsor, and reports indicate that some off-court incidents with the 2024 NBA Finals MVP cost him a spot in Team USA. Brown previously criticized Nike for taking ethical stances citing hypocritical behavior from certain campaigns they’ve had in the past and this time apparently had some consequences.
The beef turned to the USA Olympic selection
Jaylen Brown has expressed that Nike has close ties to China, hose government has ignored the genocide of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. The Celtics player is a Muslim and now he has called out the company for making “biased decisions driven by politics.”
He has even covered up the Nike swoosh on a pair of Kobe sneakers he had. Now, during a recent conversation with Dan Patrick, Grant Hill discussed Team USA’s decision to not select Jaylen Brown. Hill mentioned reaching out to Brown’s agent to explain the decision. Then, Hill smugly called Brown a “conspiracy theorist” for calling out Nike’s probable bias.
Now Jaylen Brown responded at those comments as he took to social media to speak on the matter, and it happen during Team USA Basketball’s debut game against Serbia. “Grant Hill calling me a conspiracy theorist is disappointing,” Brown posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, “I’ve been a VP since I was 21 years old, I have a great understanding.”
It seems this whole situation involving Nike, Grant Hill and Jaylen Brown might not be over soon and it is unfortunate that is happening during the Olympic competition in which many of his fellow colleagues and teammates are participating.
