If someone polled Team USA Basketball fans before the 2024 Olympic Games, it’s fair to wonder what would surprise them more: the United States playing the Serbian national team twice in France or former Duke basketball star [autotag]Jayson Tatum[/autotag] not playing a single minute in either game.
Tatum didn’t play against three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and the Serbians in the first game of group play last week, a decision U.S. head coach Steve Kerr defended as what the matchup demanded.
The United States needed a miraculous comeback in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s semifinal game, coming from more than a dozen points down, but Tatum never saw the court in the effort. Kerr, after the game, again insisted that it wasn’t a personal choice.
“It’s not what I’m not seeing from Jayson. It’s what I’ve seen from the other guys,” Kerr said in an article from The Associated Press’s Tim Reynolds. “Like I’ve said many times during this tournament and this last six weeks, it’s just hard to play 11 people, even in an NBA game.”
“It’s just a math problem more than anything,” Kerr concluded.
Notebook: Kerr says Tatum's minutes at Paris Olympics come down to a mathematical logjam. Also … KD's pursuit of history, the Olympic Celtics can join a rare club, scoring-leader roulette. https://t.co/sXPgH9VHAo
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) August 9, 2024
Tatum, who recently won his first NBA championship with the Boston Celtics, also helped the United States capture gold in the most recent Olympic Games in Tokyo three years ago.