Brandon Jennings isn’t so happy about not getting an invite from Team USA to represent his country and he believes that Nike could have played a role in the snub according to Yahoo! Sports. Fellow rookies that finished ahead of Jennings in the Rookie of the Year voting placing him third overall are both Nike sponsored athletes. Jennings is sponsored by Under Armour.
“It’s not my call. That’s on them,” Jennings told Yahoo! Sports. “But if you want to get technical about it and you really want to look at it, half of the guys there are Nike guys. I’m not saying it’s a Nike thing, but Nike is kind of running a lot of things right now. To have a guy like myself on the USA team that’s flashy and really outgoing, you don’t want Under Armour to get all that [publicity].
I’m just telling you how it is.”
Nike maybe played a small role in Jennings not receiving an invite, but that logic wouldn’t explain the inclusion of Chauncey Billups, Derrick Rose and Eric Gordon all non-Nike sponsored athletes on the US squad. Squeaky wheel gets the grease, so don’t be surprised if Jennings gets an invite next time around — especially if Nike buys them out.
