Jaylen Brown and Nike have a problem.
The reigning NBA Finals MVP has a history of critical comments toward the sports apparel behemoth and undisputed basketball shoe champion. Whatever Brown’s true problem with Nike is, it came roaring back to the surface in the wake of Team USA Basketball excluding him from the squad for the 2024 Olympics.
Whether by nefarious means or not, Brown came up short of a selection to Team USA in favor of his Celtics teammate, Derrick White. Based on Brown’s reactions to that news last week, the Celtics star seems to believe that he was snubbed, for reasons beyond basketball – and that Nike had something to do with it.
But this wasn’t the beginning of the apparent beef. There’s a little more history to it. So let’s rewind to what appears to be the beginning of the saga…
Jaylen Brown Nike Beef: The Beginning
The origin of Brown’s issues with Nike can be traced back to 2022, when his former teammate Kyrie Irving had become embroiled in a fresh controversy after sharing a link to a 2018 documentary that was widely condemned as antisemitic.
Irving lost his sponsorship with Nike and got a suspension from the Nets over his behavior. Brown would later tell the Boston Globe that he didn’t believe Irving was antisemitic, while also supporting his ex-teammate against the suspension and what he believed were unfair terms for reinstatement.
But when did Brown really factor into all this? Nike chairman Phil Knight later “Kyrie stepped over the line, it’s kind of that simple,” says Nike co-founder Phil Knight. “He just made some statements we can’t abide by and that’s why we ended the relationship.” pic.twitter.com/VWWAEbsIku
On the surface, it was a bold declaration of war against a monolith of sports business. But to many, Brown was saying the quiet part out loud.
Nike is no stranger to high-stakes litigation, often to battle the misuse of its own properties. But they’ve also faced legal action against them – as recently as this past Sunday. A new class-action lawsuit has been announced, alleging “securities fraud or other unlawful business practices,” stemming from accusations that the company misreported its own financial results dating back to June 2022.
They also have a decades-long history of exploiting child labor laws in Asia to manufacture their products in sweatshops. They’ve since worked toward improving worker conditions and treatment. However, a 2020 report in the Washington Post detailed alleged forced labor of Uyghur Muslims in a China factory that is one of Nike’s largest suppliers in the world.