A big heartbreak before the 2024 Paris Olympics was Jaylen Brown oddly getting snubbed. USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill tried to explain why, while negating sponsorship-related drama, admitting it played no role in his selection. Brown didn’t shy away from making his displeasure clear. And these days, with legends like Kevin Durant talking about the upcoming Olympics more, a former NBA star thinks Brown should take a leaf out of Joel Embiid’s book and try to join Victor Wembanyama.

“Jaylen Brown’s the biggest thing,” Chandler Parsons said on Run It Back. “Let it go and put him on the team. I don’t know exactly all the details, whether it’s him and his side, or the shoe deal, or whatever. Put him on the team and let it go. Let bygones be bygones because he is dead nice and we need him on the team.”

Parsons’ cohosts, Michelle Beadle and Lou Williams, both agreed with the sentiment. The thing Parsons is referring to as being let go here is a presumed beef between Brown and Team USA, dating back to Nike, USAB’s primary sponsor.

“But, dude, I feel like he’s going to go get some citizenship somewhere else, though, and really stick it to us,” Parsons said, with Beadle following up in a reply, “Go to France. Do you have any French anywhere?”

For decades, wearing the red, white, and blue Team USA uniform was almost automatic for American NBA stars. In a league as global as the NBA, with international talent on the rise, USA Basketball letting a potential MVP-level player like Jaylen Brown slip through their hands baffles many. This season, the Boston Celtics star is averaging a career-high 29.2 points, seven rebounds, and 4.9 assists, and is currently sixth on the KIA MVP ladder.

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Brown has been extremely critical of Nike in the past, publicly calling out the shoe company in 2022, stating that it doesn’t “care about ethics,” after founder Phil Knight called Kyrie Irving‘s then-antisemitism controversy a moment when he “stepped over a line.”

2024 just complicated things further. Brown, who had publicly expressed interest in playing for the USA, was snubbed in favor of teammates Jayson Tatum and Derrick White, leading him to call out the brand on X, claiming he wasn’t “afraid of you or your resources.”

Now that there is a rift between the two parties, Beadle and Parsons had an intriguing proposition, but is it even realistic?

Should Jaylen Brown think of playing for France in 2028? Weighing both possibilities

With Team USA in a state of flux as their previous generation of stars ages out of high-level competition, and LeBron James having already ruled out 2028, USAB needs all the young talent they can get.

However, this is a losing fight; the Thompson twins, Amen and Ausar, have already decided to play for Jamaica, whereas Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns is already playing for the Dominican Republic.

Now, if they lose Jaylen Brown, who has emerged this season as perhaps the most surprising top option on his team in the absence of Tatum, it would be disastrous. Now consider that loss being to Team France, who already pushed Team USA to the brink in the 2024 Gold Medal Game with young superstar Victor Wembanyama, and things start to look dangerous.

Lou Williams’ comment is perhaps the only thing that stands in Brown’s way.

“Get 23andMe and see what you got,” Williams said, hinting at DNA testing.

Embiid was reported to be interested in representing France, which granted him naturalized citizenship status in 2022, even though he’s never lived there. He even wrote a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, claiming he wouldn’t play for any other team back in 2021. Years later, the Philadelphia 76ers star witnessed the loudest possible boos in the Paris Olympics as he donned his Team USA jersey.

The answer to whether the Marietta-born Brown has any lineage outside of America is unknown for now. Even if he surprisingly does, it may be difficult for him to get French citizenship before the next Olympics. Should this somehow happen, Les Bleus with Wembanyama, Zaccharie Risacher, Alex Sarr, and Rudy Gobert will be sure-shot favorites in LA.