Jaylen Brown believes his time with Team USA is over due to outside factors after missing out on the 2024 Paris Olympics. The guard admitted he is open to researching his ancestry and potentially playing for a different national team.
Credit REUTERS-Scanpix
Jaylen Brown addressed his participation with Team USA during his live stream on Twitch alongside Philadelphia 76ers teammate VJ Edgecombe.
Brown expressed the value of playing for your country, mentioning his own experience and believing that he won't get to experience it again.
"I think it's a great honor to represent your country. Unfortunately, I've had that experience, and we lost in the FIBA World Cup. And then I wanted to get that experience again. I don't think I will, just, you know, I think just because of other reasons, I don't think I'll be able to play for the USA team," he said.
Brown's only men's national team experience was in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, where Team USA finished 7th place. The guard played all 8 games off the bench, averaging 7.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists.
The 76ers player was famously snubbed from the 2024 Paris Olympics squad and cited the fact that Nike is the sponsor of Team USA, which meant that his teammate Derrick White was selected over him, as Brown is an Adidas athlete.
Derrick White-Jaylen Brown
Derrick White-Jaylen Brown
Could Jaylen Brown join another national team?
Brown also acknowledged the possibility of playing for another national team after digging deeper into his ancestry.
"Even being able to go back and look into my ancestry and my DNA, I would be open to exploring. It would be dope to just even explore that and go make an impact somewhere where it'd be measured the most," he said.
While it is usually not possible to play for another national team, there are some examples of situations like this, most notably of Eric Gordon, who played for USA and then switched to playing for the Bahamas.
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