Jayson Tatum has proved what he needs to in the NBA. He was the best player on a team that won the NBA Finals, further solidifying him as one of the league's elite superstars. Then the 2024 Summer Olympics, which came directly after that Finals victory, caused folks to immediately turn on Tatum — who was effectively benched during Team USA's run to a gold medal.
Tatum handled it like a pro, telling Jared Weiss of The Athletic, “I wasn’t moping around. I didn’t have an attitude. I wasn’t angry at the world. I stayed ready and did what was asked of me and I won a gold medal, right?”
So maybe Tatum doesn't need a "redemption arc" on the world stage, because he's right... he did win a gold medal, regardless of how much he played each night. Still, if any part of Tatum is hoping for a chance at Olympic redemption... 2028, when the Olympics will be in Los Angeles, seems like the perfect time for him to get it.
Think about it; Tatum is set to miss the entire 2025-26 NBA season. The 2026-27 season, his first year back, should be thought of as a rehab year. Expecting him to return from a torn Achilles at full strength just isn't fair. The next year, 2027-28, will be his best chance to be his full self in the NBA season... and also use it as training for his first crack at being USA Basketball's No. 1 guy.
Jayson Tatum will help lead USA Basketball in 2028
Tatum getting back to full strength in 2027-28 then immediately heading into the Summer Olympics and leading the new age of USA Basketball to a gold would be about as perfect a "redemption arc" as you can write, and it would be combined with a pretty great comeback story, too, after the gutting Achilles tear he suffered in this year's playoffs.
Tatum, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, and Cooper Flagg seem like the best options to lead USA Basketball into the back half of the 2020s. I don't want to start an argument over the future face of USA Basketball, but those four seem like a great bet to be the go-to guys in LA three years from now.
The old guard of LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant will probably be hanging up the sneakers by then (although none of them seem like they're ever going to retire, so who knows) allowing the "new" NBA stars to take center stage.
I also don't want to assume the United States will win a gold medal simply because they're USA Basketball — France looks like just as much of an international basketball power in the next decade as the US does.
So, Tatum's potential redemption arc wouldn't be a cakewalk. If it were too easy, it would lose some of its luster. It wouldn't really be much of an "arc," then. More like a... straight line. Not as cool.