FEB

16

Filed under: Wizards, Washington, DC, USA Basketball, FIBA

Team USA boss Jerry Colangelo told reporters Friday Gilbert Arenas won't be invited to the national squad's training camp this summer, and thus won't have a shot at making the trip to the Beijing Olympics. Arenas, for his part, seemed understanding. He did, after all, lash out at the time after getting cut in 2006 despite self-defined sacrifices for the team.

But Gil didn't get away with one biting accusation masquerading as a rhetorical answer to an invisible question. The Washington Post's Michael Lee has it:"Sometimes politics plays a big part in sports. If it's about names and what shoe company is controlling who plays, then I don't want to be a part of that," said Arenas, who has a deal with Adidas. Most members of the team wear Nike, which sponsors Team USA.Off the top of my head, the only STAR on Team USA's projected roster who rocks something other than Nike is Dwyane Wade, who wears Converse, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nike. Basically, the entire team gets paid by Phil Knight.

The financial ties between the national program and the shoe companies -- from the youth levels to the men's team -- have been documented. But this has to be the first time a pro player has insinuated his o...

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