The Team USA men's basketball team has come back home after winning gold, but there seem to still be issues with how they played in the Olympics. Jayson Tatum not suiting up two games during the tournament is still a big topic among others, and Charles Barkley was the most recent to share his thoughts. Barkley had been critical of Team USA's game plan throughout the tournament, but he believes that Tatum should have gotten more minutes in Paris, and he called out head coach Steve Kerr for the decision.
“There’s no reason for him not to play Jayson Tatum. Tatum would have been the second-best player on Serbia, probably would have been the best player on France. So for him not to get any minutes in two games… Come on man, that wasn’t right, that wasn’t fair,” Barkley said. “If you’re going to the Olympics you want to play, you want to play. So I was disappointed Jayson didn’t get to play, I was disappointed Tyrese Haliburton didn’t get to play, especially early. If you want to shorten your rotation in the last couple of games that’s fine, but them guys dedicated their summer to the United States.”
Tatum didn't play in the two games against Serbia, and Kerr mentioned throughout the tournament that he'd be playing guys due to certain matchups on the court. Barkley thinks that since the players dedicated their time going to Paris, they should have received minutes regardless of matchups.
Jayson Tatum's future in the Olympics has been questioned
With Jayson Tatum not playing several games in the Olympics and having his minutes reduced, some have questioned if he'll come back to play in 2028. Bill Simmons was one of the first people to mention the idea of Tatum possibly not committing.
“I have no inside information at all, I'm just saying that when you're making hard choices like this, I think there's going to be ramifications down the line would be my guess,” Bill Simmons said on his podcast.
There's a lot that can happen between now and 2028 and Tatum knows that, and he said that he won't make a decision off of how his experience went this year.
“It was a tough personal experience on the court, but I’m not going to make any decisions off emotions. If you asked me right now if I’m going to play in 2028, it’s four years from now. I’d have to take time and think about that. So I’m not going to make any decision based on how this experience was, or how I feel individually,” Tatum said. “I keep trying to say, I’m trying not to make it about me. I know that’s the storyline the last few days, but we won. We won a gold medal, and that was most important.”
In 2028, Tatum will most likely be starting and see the court a lot with LeBron James and Kevin Durant most likely not returning.
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