The Boston Celtics just won a championship, yet all of the conversations surrounding their star players this summer have been negative. From Jaylen Brown not making Team USA to Jayson Tatum getting benched twice in the Olympics, both have them have been stuck in the news cycle.
Tatum handled the benchings well, though his recent Instagram story may hint at some frustration. Meanwhile, Brown was very outspoken about believing in a potential conspiracy against him led by Nike.
Lou Williams believes there was a Team USA conspiracy against Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and the Celtics
And he isn’t the only one who believes there could be a conspiracy brewing.
On a recent episode of his podcast, The Underground Lounge, former LA Clippers guard Lou Williams recently spoke about what he believes to be a potential conspiracy against the two Celtics stars. (H/t Farbod Esnaashari of Los Angeles Clippers On SI)
"Is there a conspiracy theory going on against Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown?” Williams pondered. “I really want to know because I'm trying to wrap my head around this whole concept of Jaylen Brown not being on that team, I'm trying to wrap my mind around the league trying to pit them against each other when they've never done that to two superstars. I've never seen that. Now you got JT not getting minutes, and I get it those were Kevin Durant's minutes... but JT's put in a body of work where he should be respected as well."
Both Tatum and Brown are fresh off a title. The latter was on the covers of NBA 2K25 and Sports Illustrated and the former just won Conference Finals and NBA Finals MVP awards. Yet when it came time for them to play for their country, neither got the opportunities they assumed they would.
Williams even said that Team USA should have rolled with Brown over Derrick White, noting that Tatum should have gotten minutes, too.
"This is no disrespect to Derrick White, but you're the 3rd or 4th option on that team , the second option ain't even on the Olympic team, and the first option not getting playing time and you getting 17, 18 minutes," Williams said. "Now, I get it, you're a utility guy, you probably don't care about getting the basketball, you probably gonna run around and guard the best players on the team, but you can't tell me there's a scenario where you don't find minutes for Jayson Tatum."
Social media took the Tatum slander too far on both ends of the spectrum. He wasn’t a perfect fit with Team USA, so not getting a ton of minutes made sense, but Kerr should have still been able to find playing time for him.
As for Brown, not getting named to Team USA seemed like another choice made based on team fit. But his defense and cutting would have helped him be effective on that level.
A conspiracy against the Celtics might be a couple of steps too far, but the way they were treated this summer was a bit out of whack.