Jaylen Brown calls out USA Basketball director Grant Hill for ‘conspiracy’ remark

Brown, who has been a vice president for the NBA Players’ Association since 2019, was likely replying to a comment Hill recently made on “The Dan Patrick Show.”

“This idea that there’s a conspiracy theory, I always love a good conspiracy theory, but it was really truly a basketball decision,” Hill said of Brown’s exclusion from the roster in Friday’s interview. “These are tough decisions, but having gone through this with the FIBA ​​competition, you want to find the right balance and the right pieces on the court that we needed.

“Not to say he wouldn’t have been good — there’s a lot of guys, a whole list of guys who are very capable and qualified — but for where we were, it was the right decision. Derrick White, I think, will help us as we pursue gold.”

When it was announced that White would replace Kawhi Leonard on the United States roster earlier in July, Brown made multiple social media posts questioning the decision. He also implied that Nike played a role in his exclusion from the roster in one post.

“I do for sure,” Brown told reporters later in July when asked if he thought Nike influenced USA Basketball’s decision to leave him off the roster. “There’ll be more stuff to come with that but as of now I’m not going to comment on it.”

Brown, who previously endorsed Adidas, has made critical remarks about Nike in the past.

Hill said that Nike doesn’t influence any roster decisions when it was first announced that White would replace Leonard on the roster. Hill further explained the decision to pick White over Brown and others during his appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show.” He said it was a matter of positional need, adding that the team felt good about its forward situation after Bam Adebayo played power forward during practice.

“Let’s bring in someone who can really give us great defense at the point of attack,” Hill said of the decision to add White. “That was also a priority for putting this team together: Being able to pick up full court, guard, and pressure the point guard of opposing teams. Jrue Holiday might be the best in the world at doing this.

“But having some injuries we had during camp, what happens if Jrue gets hurt? Derrick White might be the second-best in the world at point-of-attack defense. That was sort of the thought process.”

Hill also told Patrick that he called Brown’s agent to inform him that the Celtics star wouldn’t be on Team USA for the Olympics when White was added. It was reported in June that White was the top replacement for Leonard if the Clippers forward was unable to participate in the Olympics due to a knee injury.

While Brown has expressed his frustration with USA Basketball and Nike in recent weeks, he holds no hard feelings with White.

“I called Derrick right away,” Brown told reporters earlier in July. “Just to make sure there’s no confusion, my love for you and all of that. He knew that, and he did. You don’t always gotta make everything public. Me and D-White are good.”

White confirmed that was the case in an interview with the Globe‘s Adam Himmelsbach on Saturday.

“Jaylen gave me a call and I was like, ‘Yeah, you didn’t need to call me. I know we’re good,’” White said. “He gave me a call and said he just wanted to clear things up and I told him we’re all good. Never any problem or issue with us, for sure. He’s a hell of a player and I’ve never had a bad thing to say about JB.”