The Team USA men's basketball squad made their Olympics debut on Sunday morning, turning a back-and-forth 1st half with Serbia into a 110-84 blowout by the end of the contest. It was LeBron James and Kevin Durant who led the way for Team USA, scoring 21 and 23 points respectively. But at game's end, the focus is on one of the two Team USA players who did not see the floor against Serbia… Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum.
Jayson Tatum had been coming off of the bench for most of Team USA's exhibition run in the lead-up to the Summer Olympics, but when it was finally time to suit up and step on the floor when the games mattered, Tatum remained on the bench for all forty minutes of the game. Understandably, there was some confusion as to why Tatum didn't see the floor at all, when two of his Celtics teammates, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White, combined to play 38 minutes.
It's highly unlikely that Team USA head coach Steve Kerr would opt not to play Tatum simply because of his affiliation with the Boston Celtics or reigning Finals MVP Jaylen Brown. The far more likely scenario is that Tatum, much like Joel Embiid and Anthony Davis were earlier this week, was feeling under the weather and not able to suit up for the opening game of the Olympic tournament.
However, after the game, Boston Globe NBA reporter Gary Washburn asked Jayson Tatum if he was under the weather, and Tatum responded “No, I'm good.” It's possible that with the return of Kevin Durant, Tatum simply got squeezed out of the rotation. It's also possible that with Team USA having three games in group play before the knockout round, Steve Kerr is simply continuing playing around with his lineups to see what groups work best.
When Team USA takes the floor again on Wednesday in a rematch against South Sudan, it'll be interesting to see if Tatum is once again left out of the lineup.
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