Jaylen Brown avoided additional comments about Team USA snub at ESPY Awards

The NBA Finals MVP added one possible reference to the recent Team USA discourse in his acceptance speech.

Jaylen Brown’s night at the ESPYs: Amid the public discussion of Jaylen Brown not being selected for Team USA ahead of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, the Celtics star appeared at ESPN’s annual award show, the ESPY Awards.

Brown won the award for “Best Championship Performance,” continuing what has been a very successful 2024 (in which he also won both the Larry Bird Award for MVP of the Eastern Conference Finals as well as the Bill Russell Award for Finals MVP).

Of course, his Team USA snub continued to be a subject of discussion, even if Brown himself wasn’t fanning the flames.

Asked by, of all people, former Patriots quarterback Cam Newton (working the red carpet for ESPN) about the Team USA news, Brown sidestepped the question.

“I ain’t really got no comment,” Brown told Newton, adding that he was focusing on spending time with his “beautiful date,” recent WNBA player Kysre Gondrezick.

After receiving his award on stage later in the night, Brown made a short and straightforward acceptance speech, which included thanking his mother. Notably, he did add that she was “mad” at him, possibly a reference to his social media response to the USA Basketball news.

Trivia: Jaylen Brown is the seventh Celtic to win NBA Finals MVP. Can you name the others?

(Answer at the bottom).

Hint: The award began in 1969. Celtics players (aside from Brown this year) won it in 1974, 1976, 1981, 1984, 1986, 2008. Only one player won it multiple times, doing so in ’84 and ’86.

Scores and schedules:

The Red Sox defeated the Athletics 7-0 on Thursday to take two out of three in the series. Boston begins a three-game set against the Royals tonight at Fenway Park at 7:10 p.m.

On Saturday, the Red Sox host Kansas City at 4:10 p.m., while the Revolution host Orlando City at Gillette Stadium at 7:30 p.m.

More from Boston.com:

On this day: In 2018, Mookie Betts ended a 13-pitch at-bat with a dramatic grand slam in a 6-4 Red Sox win over the Blue Jays.

Daily highlight: José Caballero clinched a Rays win over the Yankees on Thursday with a dramatic catch to end the game (and a possible New York scoring threat).

Trivia answer: John Havlicek, Jo Jo White, Cedric Maxwell, Larry Bird, and Paul Pierce