Jayson Tatum was the perfect participant on the NBA’s finest staff this previous season. And but he discovered himself glued to the bench in Workforce USA’s first sport of the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday.
Tatum was a healthy scratch in Team USA’s 110-84 rout of Serbia in group play, with head coach Steve Kerr explaining merely that he “went with the (lineup) mixtures that made sense.” The Boston Celtics star did not say a lot about his shock benching after the sport, however after lastly seeing playing time in Wednesday’s win over South Sudan, Tatum was a bit extra forthcoming.
“Positively a humbling expertise, proper?” Tatum mentioned after Wednesday’s sport in Lille, France about not enjoying Sunday, via The Athletic’s Joe Vardon. “Win a championship, new contract, cowl of 2K, and then you definitely sit a complete sport. Cowl of Sports activities Illustrated. So it was positively a humbling expertise.”
Tatum’s DNP-CD may need been the low level in an offseason stuffed with highs for the three-time First-Workforce All-NBA choice, who already has inked a supermax contract extension and landed on the covers of the NBA 2K25 video game and Sports Illustrated whereas basking in the afterglow of becoming an NBA champion.
But when Tatum was irked by not enjoying Sunday, he insists he is moved previous it.
“It’s a novel scenario and it’s not about one particular person participant,” Tatum mentioned. “The competitor in you needs to play, clearly. However I’m not right here to make a narrative, making it about myself. We received.
“I used to be simply glad to get again on the market and play once more (Wednesday). There was loads of chatter over the previous couple of days however I used to be in good spirits, I had angle about it. I’m not holding any grudges or something.”
Tatum acquired the beginning towards South Sudan however did not precisely gentle it up, contributing simply 4 factors on 2-for-4 taking pictures over 17 minutes. Huge man Joel Embiid was a DNP within the sport — additional proof that All-Stars used to enjoying massive minutes must make playing-time sacrifices on the 12-man squad.
Jayson Tatum, Jrue Vacation and Derrick White mixed for 19 factors in Workforce USA’s win over South Sudan in males’s group play on the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Whereas Tatum actually falls into that class, his two Celtics teammates on Workforce USA — Jrue Vacation and Derrick White — have seen loads of run, with White contributing 10 points Wednesday in a strong all-around performance. Tatum advised he is having fun with watching Vacation and White play key roles.
“There’s loads you may take from it,” Tatum mentioned. “You might be pissed off that you just wish to play as a competitor, however possibly have some empathy for some guys on my (Celtics) staff that don’t all the time get to play, or play spot minutes. So, studying expertise to see it from that viewpoint, and simply transfer on from it.”
Workforce USA is again in motion Saturday towards Puerto Rico in its last sport of group play, with tip-off set for 11:15 a.m. ET on NBC.
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