Celtics
“If you find out what’s going on please let me know – unacceptable and makes NO SENSE.”
It’s been an … interesting Olympics for Celtics star Jayson Tatum.
Despite helping lead Boston to a long-awaited championship earlier this summer, Tatum has largely been an afterthought in Team USA head coach Steve Kerr’s rotations during the Summer Games in Paris.
Kerr drew plenty of criticism for deciding to bench Tatum for the entirety of Team USA’s opening game against Serbia in July.
After all, Tatum has established himself as a top-10 player in the NBA for the last few years — and also played a key role in Team USA’s latest gold-medal run during the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
But despite standing as Team USA’s second-leading scorer during that last tournament in Tokyo (15.2 points per game), Tatum has struggled to crack the lineup at times during this latest stretch of international competition.
Once again, Tatum was benched for all of Team USA’s 95-91 comeback win over Serbia in the semifinals on Thursday — with Kerr opting to stick with smaller guards like Devin Booker and Anthony Edwards over Tatum.
Even during Team USA’s quarterfinal win over Brazil on Tuesday, Tatum was the second-to-last player to enter the game for his team.
As expected, Tatum’s latest benching has drawn the ire of Celtics fans online — including some pointed comments from Tatum’s mother, Brandy Cole.
When longtime college basketball broadcaster Dick Vitale inquired on Twitter/X about Tatum’s health and whether or not that impacted his availability on Thursday, Cole responded.
“No he not (injured),” Brandy responded on X. “But if you find out what’s going on please let me know – unacceptable and makes NO SENSE.”
Beyond Tatum’s impressive resume and standing as a reigning NBA champion (and the league’s highest-paid player), the case can be made that Tatum’s defensive game and versatility also could have offered more value in Thursday’s matchup — especially when it came to guarding the perimeter against Serbia.
As was the case during Boston’s triumph over the Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals, Tatum has several other ways to impact a game with his defense, playmaking and rebounding — even when his shot isn’t necessarily falling (or the offense is moving through scorers like Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and Steph Curry).
“When you talk about a guy like Jayson Tatum, he’s not nailed down to one position,” former Celtics center and current ESPN personality Kendrick Perkins said of Tatum last week. “Jayson Tatum is a versatile player. … Whatever you want him to play, he’s 6-9 with a versatile package on both ends of the floor.
“The last time Team USA won the gold, Kevin Durant was the best player. You know who was the second-best player? It was Jayson Tatum.”
It remains to be seen if Tatum will land back in Kerr’s rotation on Saturday when Team USA faces off against France in the gold medal game.
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