While Team USA’s men’s basketball team did win the gold medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, the journey didn’t come without drama. One of the main storylines from the Games was head coach Steve Kerr’s handling of Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum.
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In two separate incidents, Kerr benched the five-time All-Star. This led to much scrutiny online, with many calling out Kerr for his handling of everything. Even with the Olympics over and the gold medal secure, criticism of Kerr hasn’t stopped. Veteran NBA broadcaster and retired forward Charles Barkley appeared on the Dan Le Batard Show and called out Kerr for how he completely mishandled the situation.
“There’s no reason for him not to play Jayson Tatum. Jayson Tatum would have been the second-best player on Serbia. Probably would have been the best player on France. For him not to get any minutes in two games, come on man, that wasn’t right, that wasn’t fair. If you’re going to the Olympics, you want to play… Them guys dedicated their summer to the United States. To go over there and not get to play, I didn’t like that at all.”
Kerr has admitted that finding enough minutes for all the talent on Team USA was the biggest challenge for him. However, benching Tatum, who many consider a top-five player in the NBA, was a controversial choice.
“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 added. “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.”
The most questionable benching came in the semi-final against Serbia. Team USA was trailing for the majority of the matchup, having to overcome a 13-point deficit entering the fourth quarter.
Photo by Christina Pahnke – sampics/Getty Images
While the Americans were trying to battle back, Tatum sat on the bench helpless to do anything for the team. Luckily for Kerr and Team USA, the rest of the guys were able to complete the comeback.
Kerr’s stint as the coach of Team USA was an embattled one, to say the least. He has received backlash left and right but held firm on his rotations. In the end, the U.S. did win the gold but much of the outside noise could have likely been avoided.
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