"Jayson Will Play Wednesday" - It Didn't Take Long For Steve Kerr To Try And Save Face After His Bizarre Decision To Bench Jayson Tatum

Garrett Ellwood. Getty Images.

While the main story from yesterday should have been Team USA's dominant start to the Olympics, of course it wasn't. Once again because of the decision making of Steve Kerr, all the storylines/drama/etc around Team USA revolved around the disrespect of another Celtic, this time Jayson Tatum. First, we had all the Jaylen Brown bullshit, and now here we are literally on Day 1 of Team USA's title quest dealing with the same shit. Frankly, it's both embarrassing and exhausting.

We're being gaslit the same way we were with Jaylen Brown, how suddenly there are "basketball reasons" as to why Steve Kerr couldn't find minutes for Jayson Tatum against Serbia yesterday, you know, despite him being one of the best players on the planet and a player who was a huge part of the last Olympic Gold Medal team (their 2nd leading scorer) before Kerr got there 

Gregory Shamus. Getty Images.

somehow Steve Kerr couldn't "find the right combinations" which were his words, not mine when it came to finding Tatum a spot. A hilarious lie considering his versatility is what makes Tatum so special. He fits in any and every lineup, so sadly Kerr is going to have to do a little better than that.

Here's my main issue with this. Aside from it being legitimately insane that he got a DNP-CD from a basketball standpoint, this whole situation is self inflicted! This is all a story because Steve Kerr made it a story…for what purpose? It's just another distraction for everyone to deal with at the expense of one of the reigning champions' best players, causing unnecessary drama and noise all because why? 

Just look at what's happening this morning!

Advertisement

PARIS -- Team USA got tremendous production up and down its lineup in its Olympic-opening 110-84 victory Sunday over Serbia. But it was unavoidable that some of the focus on was coach Steve Kerr choosing to sit first-team All-NBA player and champion Jayson Tatum.

Kerr dealt with the awkward reality head-on, meeting with Tatum before the game to explain the decision and then in multiple meetings with the media. That included Monday, when Kerr made it clear that Tatum would be in the lineup Wednesday when the Americans face South Sudan.

"Jayson will play [Wednesday]," Kerr said. "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."

What an asshole. You see Steve? This is what you created! All this could have easily been avoided, yet here we are

Advertisement

"I'm not going to answer your next question which is if he plays, who doesn't"

Ah yes, can't give any secrets away! Nobody is saying Tatum should have taken minutes away from LeBron or KD yesterday, they were great. But if Steve Kerr is suggesting he doesn't know how to get a player like Tatum involved, that says much more about him than it does Tatum. And now somehow, all those issues don't exist for the game on Wednesday? Now it's going to be an issue/story with whoever he sits on Wednesday in place of Tatum and around and around we go.

At the end of the day, these Olympics are about TEAM USA. At least it's supposed to be. Yet through the bizarre actions of their own coach, it's the opposite. The story and the narrative is around one player, who just so happens to be one of the best players on earth. Sure the Tatum and Celtics haters are fingering themselves over this, but I imagine a lot of those people won't be doing the same once it's Ant who sits, or Embiid who sits etc. 

I should remind you, that Pop seemed to understand how to use Jayson Tatum and Team USA cruised to the Gold. Kerr took over for the FIBA run (headlined by Anthony Edwards), and they didn't even medal. Now we have Jaylen getting snubbed and Tatum being a DNP-CD. Are we sure Kerr knows what he's doing? Maybe Warriors fans had a point when they said he's really just a Steph/Klay/KD/Draymond merchant.