Jaylen Brown opened the door Wednesday, and Stephen A. Smith happily stepped through.
After Team USA tabbed Boston Celtics guard Derrick White as Kawhi Leonard’s replacement for its 2024 Paris Olympics squad, Brown reacted with a pair of social posts suggesting he was upset about not getting the call, and that Nike — Team USA’s jersey sponsor — played a role in his snub.
Brown has been critical of Nike in the past, calling out the company in 2022 after founder Phil Knight chastised Kyrie Irving for sharing an anti-Semitic film on social media. And while USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill denied Brown’s beef with Nike had anything to do with Brown’s roster omission, Smith clearly felt otherwise with a strongly-worded message for Brown on Twitter/X.
“Do y’all believe me now?” Smith wrote. “Yo @FCHWPO, 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— …