Steve Kerr opens up on Jayson Tatum’s chances of making USA lineup against South Sudan

Jayson Tatum didn’t feature in Team USA’s 110-84 win over Serbia in the opening game of the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday. While many initially thought this was because of some undisclosed illness, Team USA coach Steve Kerr later told the media that Tatum didn’t play because of the coach's decision.

Kevin Durant and LeBron James’ heroics were enough to beat Nikola Jokic and Serbia but the U.S. will need Tatum for the rest of the Olympics. With Team USA scheduled to play South Sudan next on Wednesday, Kerr opened up to The Athletic about Jayson Tatum’s chances of playing time:

“I’m not going to answer your next question, which is if he plays, who doesn’t, but we’re going to need him and part of this job for me is to keep everybody engaged and ready because my experience with this is crazy stuff happens.”

Steve Kerr declined to give a definite answer about Tatum, which means we will have to wait until gameday to find out what transpires. The Team USA coach also spoke about the tough task of deciding who will take the court with 12 world-class players at his disposal:

“The hardest part of this job is you’re sitting at least a couple of guys who are world-class, some of the very best players on Earth, and on the one hand it makes no sense at all.

“On the other, I’m asking these guys to just commit to winning one game and then move on to the next one. I have to do the same thing. And so I felt like last night those were the combinations that made the most sense.”

Jayson Tatum might have had to warm the bench on Sunday, but he will definitely be called upon in the upcoming games. The same goes for Tyrese Haliburton who didn’t play in the opening game of the 2024 Paris Olympics as well.

Steve Kerr benching Jayson Tatum didn’t sit well with former Warrior

Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics won the 2024 NBA title. The Boston forward also happens to be one of the best two-way players in his position. Thus, when he didn’t feature in the rotation against Serbia, it was only normal for people to raise questions.

Former Golden State Warriors forward Matt Barnes didn’t understand the benching and wrote on X, formerly Twitter:

“Not sure who’s deciding who’s playing what minutes in these Olympics but for @jaytatum0 to not get any minutes is crazy AF @SteveKerr & #EricSpoelstra”

Barnes’ criticism of Steve Kerr was strange as the duo won a title together at Golden State in 2017, Kerr as a coach and Barnes as a player. However, his intention cannot be questioned as many NBA analysts and fans had the same query.