Report: Jayson Tatum Evaluated as ’11th Man’ for Multiple Games by Kerr, USA Coaches

Joseph Zucker@@JosephZuckerFeatured Columnist IVAugust 12, 2024

Mehmet Murat Onel/Anadolu via Getty Images

Someone had to be the odd man out for Team USA in the 2024 Summer Olympics, and unfortunately for Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, that someone was him.

Tatum appeared in four of the United States’ six games in Paris. He didn’t see the floor in the semifinal win over Serbia and then logged just 11 minutes in the final against France.

On his Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst laid out how tactical decisions for the U.S. “are not being made based on NBA framework” but instead on a “FIBA framework.” To that end, head coach Steve Kerr determined a 10-man rotation worked best for the Olympics, and that meant diminishing Tatum’s role.

“Steve Kerr decided he could play 10 guys. That’s it,” Windhorst said at the 43:05 mark. “He tried to play 11 a little bit and it didn’t work. When he played 11, it didn’t have good results. And their evaluation was that against Serbia, Jayson Tatum was the 11th man. Frankly, when they played against Brazil, Jayson Tatum was the 11th man.”

Windhorst added later the Team USA coaching staff “evaluated” the roster and came to the conclusion “those players in the rotation against Serbia were ahead of Tatum.”

Tatum’s usage was a subplot throughout the United States’ run to a fifth straight Olympic gold medal. The 26-year-old is fresh off another All-NBA season and one in which he helped the Boston Celtics win a title. He wound up playing the second-fewest minutes for the United States.

This continues to be the dilemma for USA Basketball and whoever is coaching the team.

The United States can’t roll the ball out and coast on talent at the Olympics. Managing director Grant Hill and his coaching staff have to assemble a squad that works as a collective unit and then utilize a game plan to achieve the same goal. That inevitably risks pushing a star such as Tatum to the periphery.

This summer, the process was complicated further by the fact Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton were the only holdovers from the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Whereas other countries typically have multiple tournaments to help define the roles for their players, the U.S. pretty much had to start from scratch for the Paris Games.

Tatum declined to commit one way or the other regarding the 2028 Summer Olympics in Paris.

“It was a tough personal experience on the court, but I’m not going to be making any decision off emotions,” he said, per The Athletic’s Joe Vardon. “If you asked me right now if I was going to play in 2028, it is four years from now, and I would have to take time and think about that. So I’m not going to make any decision based off how this experience was or how I felt individually.”

Based on how this month unfolded, Tatum may want to get some assurances about his playing time before he makes a final decision about returning to the national team.