Why Jayson Tatum didn’t play in USA’s Olympics win

Celtics

Tatum said he was fine after the game while coach Steve Kerr added that he was one of the odd men out of the rotation.

The United States men’s national basketball team cruised to a 110-84 victory over Serbia in its first game of group play in the 2024 Olympics, but there was a notable name that didn’t see the floor in the victory.

Jayson Tatum was one of the odd men out of Team USA’s rotation in Sunday’s win, sitting on the bench for the entire 40 minutes. While there was some speculation that the Celtics star was dealing with an ailment, that doesn’t appear to be the case.

“No, I’m good,” Tatum told The Boston Globe‘s Gary Washburn when asked if he was sick after the game.

That was the only comment that Tatum offered up about his status following Sunday’s game. He declined to speak to a larger group of reporters, according to The Undefeated’s Marc J. Spears.

USA coach Steve Kerr later confirmed that it was his call not to play Tatum, noting that Kevin Durant’s return played a role in setting his rotation for Sunday’s game.

“It’s really hard in a 40-minute game to play more than 10 guys,” Kerr said. “With Kevin coming back, I just went to the combinations that I felt made the most sense. It seems crazy. I thought I was crazy when I looked at everything and determined these are the lineups I wanted to get to.

“Jayson is first-team All-NBA three years in a row. He’s one of the best players in the world. I went with the combinations I felt would make sense, and I talked to him, and he was incredibly professional.”

Kerr believes that Tatum will get some shine at some point as he commended him for how he handled the benching.

“[Tatum will] make his mark,” he said. “Our guys know the key to this whole thing is to put all the NBA stuff in the rearview mirror and just win six games. Jayson is the ultimate pro and champion and he handled it well, and he’s going to be ready for the next game.”

Durant had a remarkable performance in his first game with Team USA this cycle after missing all five exhibition games due to a calf injury. He scored a game-high 23 points on 8 of 9 shooting from the field, making his first eight shots. He also played nearly 17 minutes, taking away some minutes at forward.

Still, Kerr’s decision to entirely leave Tatum out of the rotation was surprising. Tatum averaged 17.8 minutes per game over the exhibition series, making two starts in the five games. He averaged 6.4 points per game, shooting 46.7 percent from the field though he didn’t make a 3-pointer.

Tatum also had a strong performance for Team USA when it won the gold medal in the 2020 Summer Olympics. He was their second-leading scorer in the tournament, averaging 15.2 points per game while shooting 49.3 percent from the field.

On top of all of that, Tatum is the only player on the American roster who was named first-team All-NBA this past season and is just a month removed from leading his team to a title. So, seeing a player with his credentials getting stuck on the bench is unusual.

Kerr opted to go with some heavy guard lineups instead, which benefitted the two other Celtics on the roster. Jrue Holiday started alongside Steph Curry and Devin Booker. Holiday had 15 points on 6 of 8 shooting from the field, adding four rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

Derrick White was the lead point guard off the bench. He only scored two points in two shots, but he also had a pair of steals, a block, and made notable hustle plays throughout his 15 minutes of action.

The USA continues group play on Wednesday when it takes on South Sudan.