In the 12 years he spent on the court, Gilbert Arenas achieved a lot of things. He represented 4 different NBA teams, made it to the All-Star roster thrice and once to the All-NBA Second Team, and the All-NBA Third Team twice. But there’s one thing he couldn’t achieve: representing the United States in the Olympics. Unexpectedly, he could not ever make it to that roster and it seems it still haunts him.

On the latest episode of his podcast show, he let his disappointment come to the surface, especially when discussing the new Lakers assistant coaches, Nate McMillan and Scott Brooks. And as soon as Nate McMillan’s name came into the conversation, Arenas wasn’t comfortable. There was a long pause, a lot of contemplation and suddenly words (however struggling) came out of Arenas’ mouth. “Listen, I don’t have hate. Okay, I do have hate. But it’s not his fault. It’s just that he’s part of the entity”. Upon hearing this, his co-hosts asked him “Who?“, with another one of his co-hosts coming to a realization, “Oh! Team USA”.

Well, Nate did play a role on the team responsible for selecting the 2008 Team USA for the Olympics, which was headed to Beijing, and Arenas couldn’t be a part of it. Explaining this, he further says, “They didn’t leave me off the team… They hit me with some sh*t that I just didn’t…… ‘I’m on the bubble’”.

“‘On the bubble? I’m like the 4 best player here.’” Due to this, while Arenas has no personal hatred with McMillan, he still stated “He was on that team, so his name just don’t….” making the most cringed face before getting cut off.

After Team USA faced disappointment during the 2002 World Championship and the 2004 Athens Olympics, coach Mike Krzyzewski, more popularly known as Coach K, decided to make some changes to the roster. While retaining key players like LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, Coach K decided to let go of others like Gilbert Arenas. The same wasn’t limited to 2006, as Arenas was also cut off from the 2008 Beijing Olympics team as well. The ‘bubble’ remark was a reference to what exactly the instructor had told Arenas when he was being given the bad news. During an interview back in June 2023, then Golden State Warriors star Chris Paul recalled just how much the Wizards star became uncontrollable after getting dropped back in 2006.

“When they cut him. Gil let all them know,” recalled Paul. “He let all them know. He was like, ‘Listen, when I play y’all, Imma give you 50. Imma gonna give you 60. And if I could go back to college, coach K I would give you 70.’” The way that Arenas handled getting rejected in 2006 may have played a role in him not getting included later in 2008.

The 2005-06 season was one of the player’s best, during which time he secured an average score of 29.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 6.1 assists during the regular games. Furthermore, he was named to the All-NBA Third Team that same year as well. Despite his rant and the fact that he had performed exceptionally the previous season, the decision had been made and the player was dropped from both the major tournaments. The humiliation from the incidents is something that Arenas, despite having retired from the NBA 12 years ago, still remembers.

Gilbert Arenas blamed the Nike-Adidas rivalry for his Olympics 2008 snub

The Team USA roster that played in the 2008 Beijing Olympics secured a prominent chapter for themselves in the history books. Dubbed the ‘Redeem’ Team, the hope was placed on them to win the Gold after back-to-back disappointments during the previous years, which they eventually did. While Gilbert Arenas was included in the pool of players that competed for a spot on the team, he did not make the final cut. While his primary blame was directed towards Mike Krzyzewski, the former player’s tune changed a bit during an interview last year.

Back in January 2023, Arenas was invited as a guest on the ‘Games with Names’ podcast. During the discussion, he recalled, “If you watch the redeem team, you’ll see a small glimpse of me in it”. The former player stated that the only reason the world could not see more of him on the international stage was “Because it was a Nike event, I think they were kind of biased against Adidas players. I wasn’t fairly judged, in my mind.” Despite being in the second unit, Arenas claimed himself to be the best player on that unit, and certainly found it fishy that he still wasn’t selected.

This isn’t the first time that Arenas has chosen to put up a Nike-Adidas rivalry as a reason for a player getting on the international stage. In August 2023, he defended Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards for not initially being a starter on the Team USA roster that would compete in the FIBA World Cup. Reportedly calling out the tournament to be sponsored by Nike, he stated, “F**k the shoe like I understand the shoe companies, but like, as a coach. Stop… Nothing, that’s what they do. No, it’s all the politics of shoes. The best player on the team is an Adidas guy, it’s a Nike-sponsored thing… They gonna try.”

Before leaving, be sure to check out some insights that Shaquille O’Neal’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, shared about the Lakers legend’s infamous feud with the late Kobe Bryant.