[autotag]Jayson Tatum[/autotag] will play for the United States at the Olympics for the second straight Games this summer in Paris, but he won’t wear his usual No. 0 from the Boston Celtics.
Tatum will wear the No. 10 again after he sported the number in Tokyo three summers ago. However, the number carries extra significance among NBA circles. NBA legend Kobe Bryant, who passed away in early 2020, wore the same number for the Olympic team.
Tatum has routinely spoken about what Bryant meant to him as a basketball role model, making multiple social media posts about the Lakers legend over the past four years.
During a media session on Monday, the former Blue Devil expanded upon what Bryant and the No. 10 mean to him in regards to the Olympics.
“It’s nothing short of an honor to be able to represent this uniform and wear number 10,” Tatum said. “Anybody that remotely knows me knows how much influence that he had on me as a kid and inspired (me) to reach my goals. So it’s definitely something that I don’t take for granted or take lightly.”
Jayson Tatum talks to me about the significance of wearing the same No. 10 for Team USA that Kobe Bryant wore. pic.twitter.com/X7jICGzobF
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) July 8, 2024
Tatum and the United States look to defend their gold medal from the previous Olympics back in 2021.