The USA Basketball managing director spoke prior to Wednesday's exhibition against Canada about the decision to replace Kawhi Leonard with Derrick White -- and the Boston Celtics guard's suggestion that Nike (a sponsor of USA Basketball) played a role in the decision.

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Well, for a good portion of my career, I wore Fila.

Um So, uh that was supposed to be a joke.

Um, didn't play right.

Um No, look, I mean, we, we, we, um you know, we're proud of our, our partners obviously at USA basketball, but, you know, this is, this is about putting together a team and, and I'm glad you kind of brought that up because I think just overall, you, you have incredible interest from, you know, an abundance of talent that we have here in the United States.

And I've talked a little bit about when we, you know, we assembled this roster.

You can't, you know, get 12 spots and you have to build a team and one of the hardest things is leaving people off the roster that I'm a fan of that.

I look forward to watching throughout the season throughout the playoffs.

Um Guys who've been um finals mvps, guys who've been a part of the program, guys who've won gold medals, uh guys who I respect, admire and enjoy watching and, but the responsibility that I have is to put together a team and a team that complements each other a team that fits a team that will, um, give us the best opportunity for success.

And, um, so, you know, whatever theories that might be out there, um, you know, they, they're just that, but that's, that's my responsibility and it's tough, it's tough to, you know, have conversations, tell people that they're not on the team.

And, uh, so I know I talked about that in the past but I, I just think that speaks in general, like I, I'm trying to win and I'm trying to put together the right pieces that fit and give us a chance to win.

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