Team USA men's basketball kicked off their gold medal defense on Sunday with a 110-84 win over Serbia and three-time champion Nikola Jokic. The game went about as expected. The U.S. side got off to a slow start but quickly dominated once they got rolling. Kevin Durant was lights-out in his Paris Olympics debut and LeBron James reminded everybody, again, that he is still Team USA's best player at 39 years old.
There was one big surprise to come out of the contest, though— Jayson Tatum received zero playing time. The Boston Celtics superstar did not spend a single second on the court, not even in the final few minutes of a blowout victory. It's shocking given Tatum is coming off the best season of his career that ended in his first NBA title and played a fairly large role in securing Team USA's gold medal in Tokyo three years ago.
The basketball world was stunned by head coach Steve Kerr's decision to sit Tatum and showed as much on social media.
Is Tatum hurt??
— Isaiah Thomas (@isaiahthomas) July 28, 2024
KD took his minutes apparently
— csb (@itsCSB__) July 28, 2024
Isaiah Thomas asking the right questions lol https://t.co/PumweMB6AX
— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzellNBA) July 28, 2024
steve kerr choosing to bring derrick white on the olympic team instead of jaylen brown and then making sure to only play derrick white and not jayson tatum so as to sow unrest on the celtics is some phil jackson level of mind games lol
— Shea Serrano (@SheaSerrano) July 28, 2024
Steve Kerr has yet to play Jayson Tatum… pic.twitter.com/nPZhqKlfto
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) July 28, 2024
Tatum definitely should’ve got in, but…
— SonicsMuse (@SonicsMuse) July 28, 2024
KD really hasn’t missed lol.
— Jd Davison (@jddavison10) July 28, 2024
Tatum might get 60 the first time the Celts play the Warriors
— Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) July 28, 2024
There were numerous theories thrown around as to why Kerr benched Tatum, with the most prevalent being the star forward might've come down with an illness after Joel Embiid and Anthony Davis both got sick in the lead-up to Sunday. However, Tatum said after the game he was feeling fine. So it seems Kerr just thought he had a better chance without Tatum today.
A bit of an odd decision after watching Tatum lead the Celtics in points, rebounds, and assists while guarding every position on the floor for two months of grueling playoff basketball. But Team USA won handily, so there's not much to question.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Basketball World Reacts to Jayson Tatum Not Playing During Team USA Win Over Serbia.
