Steve Kerr shares real story about benching Jayson Tatum on Team USA

The Boston Celtics play the Golden State Warriors for the first time this season on Wednesday night. It’s a clash of titans, as both sides have only dropped one game this season. However, while the contest between the two teams is already intriguing because of how well they’ve been playing, the subplot is set to draw even more eyes.

Jayson Tatum played for Team USA this summer, a team led by head coach Steve Kerr, who is at the top of the bench for the Warriors. Kerr benched Tatum in multiple games during the Olympics, and Tatum didn’t play much in the others. Wednesday will be the first chance Tatum will get to play against Kerr since those benchings.

And before the game, Kerr detailed his real thoughts on it.

Steve Kerr explains real story of benching Jayson Tatum on Team USA

Kerr was asked if he has any regrets as to what went down, to which he said his only regret is that it became such a big story. The real story, in his eyes, was the character of the players.

“Do I have any regrets? We can't control the story,” Kerr said. “That's this job. I tell our players all the time, the NBA is incredibly popular. It's the reason it's so lucrative. So, part of the deal is [that] you're going to be in the story. So, that can be tough. And I thought, from the beginning in Vegas. The whole thing was, 'Hey, we're in this together. We got 12 Hall of Famers, and we're just committed to winning.' And we won the gold medal. So, I don't give it a whole lot of thought, other than, yeah, I didn't enjoy not playing Jayson against Serbia, not playing Joel 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 brought the gold home for their country. They all handled themselves with incredible dignity and class, and that's the real story. But we live in a time where we have to talk about stuff that actually doesn't really matter.”

At the time, Tatum was a complete professional, and he has been ever since. He played his role, never complained, and won his second gold medal. That was that.

Still, the narrative persists, and it still does to this day. Celtics fans are mad at Kerr for not playing Tatum, while Kerr is just thrilled to have gotten the job done. (And Tatum has a cabinet full of gold.)