When Jayson Tatum didn’t play a single minute in Team USA’s opening game of the 2024 Olympics against Serbia, you’d have thought that was a one-off. Well, turns out it wasn’t. Tatum once again found himself on the bench for the entirety of the rematch against Serbia in the semifinals and head coach Steve Kerr had an interesting explanation for it.
“It’s not about anything Jayson is doing or not doing,” Kerr said. “It’s just about combinations and the way that group has played together, the way Kevin (Durant) has filled in since he came back from his injury. It’s just a math problem more than anything.”
This math problem has existed for Team USA for years now. With the rosters being so deep, we have seen some big names not get a lot of time on the court. There are only 200 minutes available and inevitably, someone or the other ends up having to sit on the bench for a lot longer than they’d like.
The issue when it comes to Tatum, though, is that he now hasn’t played at all in two of the five games. I am not sure a player of his caliber has ever had that happen to them. We are talking about a 26-year-old here who is a five-time All-Star, and who just played a big role in the Boston Celtics winning the 2024 NBA championship.
After benching Tatum in the opening game against Serbia, Kerr stated he felt like an idiot for not playing him. He did add, though, that you can’t play more than 10 players in a 40-minute game, and with that in mind, we probably should have seen it coming that the Celtics star might not feature in the rematch either.
Even if Kerr wanted to give Tatum a few minutes, that game playing out the way it did ensured that wouldn’t be the case. Team USA was down by 17 points at one stage and he had to put out the group that he felt was best suited to turn things around. In the end, it took some heroics from Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and Joel Embiid to complete the comeback and sneak away with a 95-91 win.
Jayson Tatum’s Mother Called Her Son’s Benching Unacceptable
To add some spice to this situation, Tatum’s mother Brandy Cole has now spoken about her son’s benching. To say she isn’t happy, would be an understatement.
“No he not. But if you find out what’s going on please let me know – unacceptable and makes NO SENSE.”
I am not sure what’s more surprising, the fact that Cole made this post or that it hasn’t been deleted yet. You’d have thought that Tatum would tell his mother to take it down, but either he hasn’t or she isn’t listening to him. Whatever the case, this wasn’t ideal for Kerr and the team.
If Tatum, who is averaging 6.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game at the Olympics, gets benched in the final against France, you can expect an uproar on social media, but he should get some game time there. It’s clear that Kerr just doesn’t fancy having him on the court against a team like Serbia which is heavy on guards and bigs, but that’s not the case when it comes to France.
