Team USA’s recent exhibition game against South Sudan certainly did not go as expected! For a team that could only qualify for the Olympics this year, the latter held their own and put their rivals in a precarious position. By the time it was over, the USA emerged victorious, but by just 1 point! While Steve Kerr once again faced the brunt of the narrow win, former NBA player Gilbert Arenas instead decided to put his focus on Derrick White. After all, what better way to put the Jaylen Brown snub into the limelight than to call out the performance of the player for whom he was snubbed?

Yesterday, the 42-year-old Washington Wizards legend conducted a live stream, allowing fans to ask him any question they desire. One comment left in the Live Chat had an individual stating, “Derrick White is some a*s.” Arenas found this amusing and responded by asking, “You just learned that? I’m just saying, you just figured that out?” Once Arenas was given a topic, he was interested in talking about, you bet that he wasn’t going to let it die out that easily. The fan’s comment allowed him to express his frustration with the Celtics player openly.

“Figured out he was some bona fide (a**) cheeks, but they wanted him on the team for a reason,” Arenas continued in response to the fan comment. “So, I don’t know why he gets in the game. I mean, I thought he was just there for moral support. You know what I mean, just clap for the team and then keep it moving.”

Gilbert Arenas’s “just there for moral support” remarks come in the aftermath of the US-South Sudan matchup. Derrick White, who spent over 11 minutes on the court, added ZERO points to the overall score, even as his team was trailing by double digits. On top of that, there was a significant lack of effort from the player’s side, as he went 0-1 with his field goals, 0-0 with his three-pointers, and 0-0 with his free throws. While his defensive efforts in the final seconds helped to delay things and prevent South Sudan from taking the lead, it wouldn’t have been needed if White had performed better offensively.

Derrick White was named to the Team USA roster as a replacement for Kawhi Leonard. The latter had developed a right knee inflammation during the recent NBA tournament, which continued to bother him even at Team USA’s training camp. White, being named to the team, was met with a bit of criticism, since the Boston Celtics player was picked over Jaylen Brown, the Eastern Conference Finals and the Finals MVP of the recent tournament. Brown himself did not shy away from making his disappointment known, taking a shot at Nike for allegedly playing a role in excluding him from the team. Arenas ended up agreeing with this viewpoint. He brought up the issue in one of his earlier segments to highlight his belief that Nike’s influence is diminishing Adidas wearers like Jaylen Brown.

“USA basketball is Nike, so now think about Adidas kids. So now they got to leave Adidas teams and play with Nike teams so they can potentially get invited because they feel they are going to get screwed,” said the former player.

All in all, Gilbert Arenas was amongst the individuals who were unhappy with Brown’s snub. However, if it were up to the former player, he would have gone with another player instead of the Celtics star himself!

Gilbert Arenas wanted Jalen Brunson, not Derrick White, to fill the vacant Team USA spot

On the 11th of July, Gilbert Arenas hosted another segment of his long-running show. With Rashad McCants joining as guest host, the former player devoted a significant part of the episode to asking the ‘real’ reason for Kawhi Leonard being let go from the Olympic team. Furthermore, he also questioned the reasoning behind his replacement, claiming that there were better options to choose from if Team USA wanted to go down a particular path only.

“Kawhi is a forward. They replaced a forward with another guard, another point guard (White), right? If you’re going to go with another point guard, you might as well get damn near the second-best point guard in the league last year, which is Brunson,” said Arenas.

Jalen Brunson is coming off one of his most memorable NBA seasons to date. Along with securing an average score of 28.7 points during the regular season, he also averaged 6.7 assists and 3.6 rebounds. His performance allowed him to be named to the All-NBA Second Team for the first time in his 6-year-long career. Compare that to Derrick White, who only averaged 15.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 5.2 assists during the season, and looking a little further would have taken Team USA somewhere else. Furthermore, it helps that the New York Knicks star is a known promoter of Nike!

Gilbert Arenas and Jaylen Brown questioned whether there could have been a better player than Derick White on the roster. However, according to the team’s managing director, Grant Hill, the final decision was made after determining which player would help in creating “a team that complements each other.” White is set to be seen doing so offensively. He better gear up, though, since the Paris Olympics lie less than one week away.