Jayson Tatum reveals how he handled Steve Kerr after Team USA benchings

Winning a championship? Overplayed. Three straight All-NBA First Team nods? Meh. The covers of NBA 2K25 and Sports Illustrated? Whatever. Getting benched by Steve Kerr on Team USA in two games of the 2024 Olympics? Now that’s the Jayson Tatum story that should take center stage.

That’s all anyone has spoken about for the past few weeks, but what has Tatum been doing about it? His team-first approach has been reflected in his quotes, but did he actually talk to Kerr about his playing time?

Jayson Tatum reveals he did not speak to Steve Kerr about playing time amidst Team USA benchings at 2024 Olympics

Nope. He just played his role and helped when he could. The Boston Celtics star revealed as much in an article by Tara Sullivan of The Boston Globe.

“No. I just stayed a professional,” Tatum said when asked if he talked to Kerr about playing time. “I came to work every day. Just stay ready. We got great guys on this team and while you feel like you deserve to play and the competitor in you wants to play, as a coach for a reason he makes those decisions. Your job as a player is to stay ready whenever your number is called.”

Tatum appeared in four of the six games Team USA played in the 2024 Olympics. He averaged 5.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.5 assists while shooting a brutal 38.1% from the floor. He failed to make a single three-pointer (0-for-4).

With the likes of LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry getting the majority of the on-ball touches, it made sense why Tatum wasn’t getting a ton of run. He’s been in the worst shooting slump of his career for the past few months, so that makes playing him off the ball fairly tough.

That said, there were some spots where he could have and should have been utilized. Tatum’s an elite defender and his rebounding would have been very helpful in Team USA’s close call against Serbia in the semifinals.

All in all, the discourse surrounding Tatum went way too far on both ends of the spectrum. But the Celtics star doesn’t seem too bothered by it. (Though his recent Instagram story indicates that he may use the slight snub as motivation).