Jaylen Brown hates being overlooked. That was clear right after he was left off this season’s All-NBA teams: the Boston Celtics forward stepped on the gas and scooped up the Conference Finals MVP and the NBA Finals MVP. So when Team USA passed him over to replace Kawhi Leonard, the forward did not stay silent.
When word got out that Derrick White would take over for the Los Angeles Clippers star, Brown used emojis to show his sarcastic frustration. But it didn’t take long for him to get direct and, tagging Nike, question if that’s really how things are done:
Nike is one of the main sponsors of the U.S. basketball team and has stirred controversy before over its treatment of athletes with other endorsements. For example, covering Dwight Howard’s Adidas shoes in 2008 with Mike Krzyzewski’s foot.
A long-running dispute
Brown’s issues go back a while. The forward has no contract with the major footwear and apparel sponsors because he says they don’t give him the freedom he wants. He’s usually seen in Nike sneakers but covers the swoosh. Beyond any creative aesthetic, Brown wants to steer clear of the ideological baggage that comes with signing a brand deal. A couple of years ago, when Nike dropped Kyrie Irving over off-court controversies tied to antisemitism, the Celtics star reacted, “Since when did Nike care about ethics?”
Brown suspects that stances like these may have cost him a spot on Team USA. He was part of the squad in 2019 without incident, but not in 2021 (Tokyo Olympics) or 2023 (World Cup). He didn’t stop there either: just today on his X feed, he made it clear he’s not afraid of the brand’s resources. Jaylen Brown may be unconventional, but he holds fast to his principles.
(Cover photo by Maddie Malhotra/Getty Images)
