The United States are one win away from securing their spot in the gold medal match for the 2024 Olympics. US men’s basketball has yet to lose in exhibition and regular Olympic play. Team USA secured the #1 seed in the Olympics after three dominant wins to start.
On Thursday afternoon, Team USA will play Nikola Jokic and the Serbians for a third time. They played once in exhibition play and the Americans opened up the 2024 Olympics against Serbia. Recently, Team USA basketball director Grant Hill sat down for an interview with FS1’s, Rachel Nicols. Hill mentioned that Celtics 2024 Finals MVP Jaylen Brown will be considered for the 2028 Olympic roster.
Jaylen Brown should have a spot on the 2028 Olympic roster
Grant Hill responds to the criticisms and controversies surrounding USA Basketball’s roster construction.
Watch his full sit-down with @Rachel__Nichols on our YouTube: https://t.co/qon0bbeM94 pic.twitter.com/hmSJi1e4Hd
— All the Smoke Productions (@allthesmokeprod) August 7, 2024
On the original 2024 men’s basketball Olympic roster, there were two Celtics players chosen. Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday were both on the 2020 Olympic roster that won gold in Tokyo. They were easy choices for Team USA managing director Grant Hill. Clippers’ all-star forward Kawhi Leonard had to leave the Olympic team due to injuries, That left a void in the roster that Hill needed to replace. Boston’s 2024 NBA champion Jaylen Brown felt he was an ideal candidate to replace Leonard. Instead, Grant Hill chose his teammate Derrick White to play in 2024.
This outraged Brown and he went to social media to voice his frustrations. The 2024 Finals MVP tagged Nike in a post on X and said “@Nike this what we doing?”. Sources around the league noted that Jaylen Brown has had an ongoing feud with Nike since 2022. They also happen to be the jersey supplier for Team USA basketball. Brown’s feud with Nike started when his former teammate Kyrie Irving lost his contract with Nike. The two-time all-star then started to remove the Nike symbol from the shoes he wore on the court. His battered relationship with Nike was likely a major factor that kept him from being in consideration for the 2024 Olympics. Team USA managing director Grant Hill recently spoke with Rachel Nicols and said that Jaylen Brown will be considered for the 2028 Olympic roster. We’ll see in four years if Brown makes the team.
