I’m rooting against Team USA out of spite

This afternoon, France will look to become the fourth country to capture the Olympic gold medal in men’s basketball, joining the United States (16 times), Soviet Union (1972, 1988), and Argentina (2004).

In their corner will be… me.

That’s right. I will be rooting against Team USA out of spite, after the sheer amount of negativity that this Olympic run has sent toward Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The Celtics’ star-wing duo has received unreasonable amounts of criticism and ridicule over the last month, despite winning an NBA title back in June.

Brown was straight up left off of the roster and then overlooked again after Kawhi Leonard stepped away from the team. Of course, it was his Celtic teammate, Derrick White, who was chosen to step in. JB and White have both clarified that there’s no issue or beef over the Olympic selection/snub, just to be clear.

Since the Eastern Conference Finals and Finals MVP’s omission, he has voiced his displeasure and pointed at Nike, the official partner and supplier for Team USA, as the driving force behind it.

Why? Well, Brown called them out for questionable ethics back in November of 2022, and he believes they haven’t forgotten.

USA Men’s Basketball Managing Director Grant Hill has since taken every opportunity to belittle Brown and speak about him in a condescending way.

During an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show”, Hill alluded that Boston’s star forward was reaching at conspiracy theories after Brown called out Nike.

Then, during a recent sitdown on “Open Run with Rachel Nichols,” Hill again discussed Jaylen’s glaring absence on Team USA, saying he’d maybe have a spot next time.

“It’s a lot of noise. I’m confident he and I will sit down at some point and talk about it and get to some level of understanding,” Hill said. “Look, he’ll be a candidate if he wants in (2028).”

The Hall-of-Famer added that his ultimate goal is winning and that JB shouldn’t take anything personally.

At this point, it’d be pretty surprising if Brown shows interest in playing for Team USA in 2028. This has been such a long drawn-out process that it feels like the bridge has been burned.

It’d also be pretty surprising if that team featured both Tatum and Steve Kerr.

Aside from all of the winning, Kerr’s benching of the Celtics star has been the main story from Paris.

In Thursday’s semi-final win over Serbia, he didn’t log a single minute, despite things looking pretty grim for most of the game. Kerr’s hardheadedness has rubbed plenty of Cs fans, as well as Tatum’s mother, the wrong way.

I’m sure if she’s being vocal about the situation, Tatum probably isn’t thrilled either.

Kerr claims that his decision has less to do with the 26-year-old’s play, but rather that of his Olympic teammates.

“It’s not what I’m not seeing from Jayson — it’s what I’ve seen from the other guys,” Kerr told reporters, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. “Like I’ve said many times during this tournament and the last six weeks, it’s just hard to play 11 people, even in an NBA game.”

I mean, I wouldn’t wish the challenge of trying to play twelve different players in a single game upon anyone.

Poor Steve Kerr.

Regardless, his rotations have relegated JT from NBA champion to a joke for many online.

The situation has even opened the door for believable, but false, reports on his character.

Take a look at this:

I must’ve seen this post retweeted or quoted ten times yesterday. It’s ridiculous.

Despite three different Celtics players representing the States this summer, the entire run has been far more of a headache than it has been fun.

As much as it will suck for Jrue Holiday and Derrick White to be casualties in all of this, I just can’t bring myself to back Team USA, Hill, and Kerr. Viva la France.