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“Jayson Tatum Seems Like A Colossal Pain”: NBA Analyst’s Verdict On Celtics Star’s Benching

Abhishek Dhariwal
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"Jayson Tatum Seems Like A Colossal Pain": NBA Analyst's Verdict On Celtics Star's Benching

Jayson Tatum had an excellent season with the Boston Celtics. The five-time All-Star won his first NBA title, yet it wasn’t enough for him to receive some playing time during Team USA’s first Olympic matchup.

Following his absence from the court against Serbia, Tatum’s 4-point performance against South Sudan wasn’t as alarming to this analyst who commented on Tatum’s benching in the Olympic opener.

Doug Gottlieb, on his show on Fox Sports, was more concerned with Tatum’s statement after his DNP rather than the actual DNP itself. In his words, 

“‘He said, ‘Win a championship, new contract, cover of 2K, and then you sit the whole game, cover of Sports Illustrated, so it’s definitely humbling.’ I’m just gonna tell you right now…How it reads to me is Jayson Tatum seems like a colossal pain in the a**.”

Speaking at face value, Tatum decided to label being benched a humbling experience. However, listing his achievements and accolades in the statement was where the NBA analyst drew the line.

“Instead of saying, ‘Hey, I don’t care if I play a minute or if I play the whole game, I just wanna win.’ He’s like, ‘I’ve got all this stuff that’s humbling.’ It’s not humbling. You have not been humbled. Because then you read some sort of resume like any of us give a c**p.”

While JT’s statement sounded a tad too high and mighty, it still created quite a buzz on social media. Numerous fans lashed out at Team USA’s head coach Steve Kerr for benching a five-time All-Star and NBA champion.

Kerr did go on to place the Celtics star in the starting five against South Sudan in the team’s next matchup. But Gottlieb believes that Tatum’s attitude and demeanor are a nightmare, especially for the coaching staff.

The analyst simply pointed out that if getting benched was as humbling an experience as Tatum made it out to be, he would not have needed to mention all of his recent accomplishments beforehand.

For his next outing, Tatum did receive playing time in their matchup against South Sudan, starting the game for Steve Kerr. However, his 4-point outing doesn’t do much to help his case.

Post Edited By:Sameen Nawathe

About the author

Abhishek Dhariwal

Abhishek Dhariwal

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A fan of Basketball since the late 2000s, Abhishek Dhaiwal has been covering the game for over five years. Having done his masters in Journalism and Mass Communication, Abhishek is an NBA sports journalist at The SportsRush. A fan of the San Antonio Spurs since the Tim Duncan era, Abhishek has an extensive knowledge of the sport and has covered more than 1500 articles. Having a firsthand experience of the sport, Abhishek has represented his city and state at a District and National level. And it is the same level of expertise he aims to bring while covering extensive topics both on and off the court of your favorite basketball stars.

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