Team USA coach Steve Kerr said All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum will make his Paris Olympics debut on Wednesday against South Sudan.
Tatum, coming off a championship season with the Boston Celtics, did not play on Sunday when the U.S. opened pool play with a 110-84 victory against Serbia.
Kerr confirmed that he met with Tatum before Sunday’s game to explain why he was the odd man out, based on the coaching staff’s review of matchups and lineup combos against Serbia.
“Jayson will play (Wednesday),” Kerr told reporters Monday. “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.”
Kevin Durant scored 23 points in 17 minutes off the bench and LeBron James added 21 in the victory against Nikola Jokic and the Serbian squad.
“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,” Kerr said. “On 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.”
Tatum, who helped Team USA win gold at the Tokyo Games, averaged 26.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.9 assists for the Celtics in 2023-24.
His athleticism and switchable defense could be critical against a South Sudan squad loaded with 3-point shooters who can spread the floor. Tatum had nine points in 16 minutes in a 101-100 win against South Sudan in last week’s exhibition game in London.
“With South Sudan, it’s more about the speed, and speed is a killer,” Kerr said. “You have to be prepared for everything, and that means we need everybody.”
–Field Level Media
