Ever since Jayson Tatum had been sent to be the bench and didn’t see any action against Serbia last week in the first game of the Paris Olympic Games, he hadn’t spoken publicly until now. The Celtics forward then played the last two contests for Team USA and finally opened up to the press this weekend.
Even though his 17 minutes in his nation’s 103-86 victory against South Sudan weren’t impressive, he admitted that the whole experience of watching an entire game from the sidelines was an eye opener. “Definitely a humbling experience, right?” Tatum said.
“Win a championship, new contract, cover of (NBA) 2K (video game) and then you sit a whole game. Cover of Sports Illustrated. So it was definitely a humbling experience,” JT expressed after coming back and scoring four points against the African squad.
“I don’t think it was humbling. This was more like a slap in the face.”
@paulpierce34 takes issue with Jayson Tatum’s benching vs. Serbia pic.twitter.com/cTemwgS34z— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) August 2, 2024
As the Boston star returned to the starting lineup, then it became Joel Embiid’s turn to warm the bench through an entire game vs. South Sudan. The former league MVP, who would’ve probably won this accolade again if it wasn’t for injuries, averaged 34.7 points per match across 39 contests for the Sixers last season.
Not only did Steve Kerr give Tatum a chance instead of Embiid, he also felt the need to play his fastest players during that clash, and the Philadelphia big man isn’t one of those. Nevertheless, the tactician assured that any decision he makes will strike drama.
“I think the NBA is so popular worldwide and the regular season is kind of a soap opera,” said the U.S. head coach. “And so we understand that, and social media takes over and everything becomes so dramatic. I think we need to give these guys more credit. They’re here to win a gold medal. They’re pros. They’re committed to each other.”
Out of Team USA’s 11 All-Star players, only Derrick White is’t one of them, but he is still getting lots of minutes due to his impressive defending. “Derrick White’s a phenomenal basketball player,” Kerr shared. “He’s a winner. He’s a FIBA player. FIBA is different for every single guy. There’s some different rules, different flow. Derrick’s a champion. He’s a phenomenal basketball player and he’ll continue to make a huge impact for us.”
Steve Kerr guarantees that all his players are “champions” and are committed to their collective goal of bringing home the gold medal
Considering that the matches at the Olympics are FIBA-ruled and last 40 minutes each, LeBron James and Steph Curry share the team lead in minutes played with 21.6 per game. Devin Booker comes in third place with 21.1 minutes, as he has started every single one of their international outings.
Coach Kerr is convinced that ever single one of their players is one of the world’s top talents and share the same collective goal. “I mean, these guys are all champions, All-Stars, Hall of Famers, however you want to put it,” he said. “So the whole thing is, are we committed to the goal? That’s it.”
“I always tell our guys with the (Golden State) Warriors, the reason they pay us a lot of money is there is so much interest worldwide in what we do. And so you can’t have it both ways. You can’t accept your salary and then get mad at social media or get mad at all the coverage,” added the Warriors tactician.
After three-consecutive wins in Paris, Steve knows that bringing home the gold is everything. “The beauty of the Olympics is none of that crap matters. And I know everyone’s going to write about it, but none of that crap matters. We’re just trying to win every game and win a gold medal, and it’s an incredibly pure feeling and the guys are committed to each other and they’re not going to worry about any of that,” he concluded.
