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Steve Kerr Addresses Jayson Tatum's Olympic Benching Before Warriors-Celtics Tilt

The Warriors coach revisited his decision to keep Jayson Tatum on the bench for two games in Paris.

Tom Dierberger

Tatum and Kerr won a gold medal together at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Tatum and Kerr won a gold medal together at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. / Jim Poorten / NBAE via Getty Images
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Aside from standing atop the podium in Paris, one of the biggest storylines to emerge from Team USA men's basketball gold medal run at the 2024 Olympic Games was the lack of playing time for Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum.

Suiting up alongside a group of fellow NBA stars, Tatum didn't play a single minute in Team USA's opening game against Serbia and spent the entire semifinal matchup against the same country on the bench as well.

Ahead of the Golden State Warriors' tilt against the Celtics on Wednesday night at TD Garden, coach Steve Kerr addressed Tatum's lack of playing time in Paris.

"Do I have any regrets? We can't control the story. That's this job," Kerr said. "From the beginning in Vegas, the whole thing was, 'Hey, we're in this together. We've got 12 Hall of Famers and we're just committed to winning.' I don't give it a ton of thought other than I didn't enjoy not playing Jayson against Serbia, not playing Joel [Embiid] against South Sudan.

"Those are not fun decisions, but our guys were all amazing. They committed to each other, they committed to winning the gold medal. ... They all held themselves with dignity and class. That's the real story. But we live in a time where we have to talk about stuff that actually doesn't really matter."

In four Olympic appearances, Tatum averaged just 5.3 points in 17.7 minutes per game on 38.1% shooting from the field. Only Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton appeared in fewer games (three) over Team USA's run to the gold medal.

Tatum is off to a tremendous start to the 2024-25 NBA campaign, registering 30.0 points and 7.4 rebounds per game on 48.1% shooting from the field in eight appearances.

And it appeared Celtics fans had Tatum's back on Wednesday night, as they greeted Kerr with boos during the pregame introductions at TD Garden.

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Tom Dierberger
TOM DIERBERGER

Tom Dierberger is a staff writer and editor on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in November 2023 after stints at FOX Sports, Bally Sports and NBC Sports. Dierberger has a bachelor's in communication from St. John's University. In his spare time, he can be seen throwing out his arm while playing fetch with his dog, Walter B. Boy.

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