Team USA emphatically started their Olympic campaign after beating Serbia by 26 points. However, Jayson Tatum didn’t even get a single second of playing time in the blowout win. Team USA head coach Steve Kerr could have allotted at least a few minutes to the 2024 NBA Champion and All-NBA First Team talent. But he didn’t want to interrupt the rhythm of the team.
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Meanwhile, Tatum’s benching prompted a whole lot of trolling on the Internet.
Former NBA athlete Evan Turner quipped that Tatum’s new haircut kept him at bay. The Celtics star came with a buzzcut hairdo at the beginning of training camp in Las Vegas.
Therefore, Turner took a dig at JT for getting a haircut for the Olympics only to sit on the bench the whole time. On X, he joked, “I wish I would cut my hair for the Olympics and you don’t play me”.
Turner seemingly took a shot at both Head Coach Steve Kerr and Tatum. He sarcastically said that coach Kerr didn’t take Tatum’s new haircut into account and played someone else. So JT’s new haircut was a waste due to lack of any playing time.
Jokes aside, Kerr’s decision was indeed baffling. Not assigning playing time to the only USA player on the 2024 All-NBA First Team was bound to raise questions.
To make matters worse, Tatum’s teammate Derrick White tallied almost 16 minutes. After the game, Kerr told the media that he had interacted with Tatum about potentially missing action during the Olympic Opener.
Steve Kerr explains his decision
Kerr admitted that the return of Kevin Durant affected Tatum’s minutes. KD was on fire throughout the game and made all his eight shots in the first half, which gave Team USA the required momentum after an initial outburst by Serbia. Team USA HC didn’t want to upset the rhythm that was orchestrated by Durant and the combination around him.
He appreciated the way JT coped with the whole situation but admitted that relegating the elite Celtics Wing to zero minutes didn’t sit well with him. He promised that Tatum would get his due soon. Kerr relayed,
“It’s tough but Jayson handled it really well. I talked to him today before the game that it may play out this way just with Kevin coming back and lineups that I wanted to get to but that will change, Jayson’s gonna play… I felt like an idiot not playing him“
Kerr is spot-on about the necessity of allotting a ton of minutes to Durant at the Wing. But one can argue that Tatum could have at least gotten a couple of minutes when Team USA had already clinched the decisive advantage. But Kerr has assured that the 2024 champion will get to contribute in the upcoming games.
