Skip Bayless Has Wild Theory About Jaylen Brown’s Team USA Snub

You didn’t think the Celtics winning an NBA championship would completely end the Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown coexisting narratives, did you?

Skepticism about Tatum and Brown’s working relationship started to bloom as both Boston franchise cornerstones established themselves as elite players. Those doubts started to diminish as the Celtics began flirting with a title, and theoretically, they should have been totally squashed when the pair led the storied franchise to a historic championship.

But few can stretch like Skip Bayless when it comes to crafting takes, and the “Undisputed” co-host cooked up a doozy after Brown was left off Team USA for the Paris Olympics.

“It smells like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen just don’t really get along,” Bayless said Thursday on FS1. “Jayson Tatum, it feels like, is saying, ‘Hey, I just need a break. I don’t want to have to live with you for a whole ‘nother month so closely when we go to Paris. I just don’t want to do this.’ And Grant Hill is saying, ‘You know what? For our chemistry’s sake, I don’t want to do this.’ That’s what it comes across to me (as).

“I don’t know any background. I’m just trying to read it from a distance. It’s because Jayson is such a big Nike guy and Jaylen is saying, ‘Nike, is this how we’re playing this? Is this what we’re doing? You’re going to keep me out of this for Jayson’s sake?’ I can’t figure it out.”

It’s unclear why exactly Brown won’t be representing the U.S. in France later this month. Hill chalked it up as a team-building decision and refuted the notion that Brown’s rocky relationship with Nike had an impact. Tatum, meanwhile, didn’t have any answers about his running mate’s omission.

In any event, it was a pretty weak and lazy take from Bayless. But it probably entertained the pundit’s former teammate, Stephen A. Smith.