Jayson Tatum Falls Short in Comments on Jaylen Brown's Team USA Drama

Boston Celtics All-Star and NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown is not happy about not being selected as the replacement for Kawhi Leonard on Team USA. 

Brown’s teammate, Derrick White, was reportedly picked to replace Leonard on the roster, which made the star guard feel a type of way as he posted a couple of tweets on X Wednesday. The 27-year-old tweeted out a variation of the thinking emoji and then sent a tweet to Nike saying, “This is what we doing?”

Brown played for Team USA in the 2019 FIBA World Cup where the US didn’t even win a medal. Nonetheless, the veteran guard is baffled about why he wasn’t chosen to be on the team with Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday.

Speaking of Tatum, the 6-foot-8 wing was asked about Brown after Team USA defeated Canada in the USA Basketball Showcase on Wednesday night. Reporters asked Tatum if he had spoken to Brown, putting him in an awkward position.

“Ah no,” Tatum said. After that question, reporters also asked the Celtics star, is it tough not having Jaylen here?

Tatum said in response to that question, “I mean, there’s so many guys that could, you know, take that last spot or whatever. So, yeah, it is.”

Based on the video, it’s clear that Tatum was slightly uncomfortable answering those questions as White took the last spot. Is Tatum right that so many other guys could’ve taken that last spot? 

Without a doubt. You could’ve made the case for Kyrie Irving, Jalen Brunson, or Donovan Mitchell. It just so happened that White was the replacement, which looks funny optics-wise, especially with Brown sitting right there.

Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see if this situation involving Brown continues or if things will quiet down. Grant Hill, who is Team USA’s executive director, gave his two cents about the decision, while Brown continued to speak out on X on Thursday.

More Celtics news and analysis: