The Jayson Tatum-Team USA discourse has gone way too far and it sucks
By Jack Simone
Over the past few weeks, Steve Kerrhas been slandered for not playing Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum during Team USA’s 2024 Olympics run. But while his lack of playing time has been wrong at times, the discourse has gone too far.
And it’s gone too far on both ends of the spectrum.
The Jayson Tatum-Team USA discourse has gone way too far
On the one hand, there are the people who want to see Tatum get minutes. And that’s valid. He’s a three-time All-NBA First Team player and just won an NBA Championship.
In Team USA’s semifinal game against Serbia, he should have played. Anthony Edwards wasn’t playing up to par, and Team USA needed more defense and rebounding on the court. Yet Tatum remained glued to the bench. Stephen Curry, LeBron James, and Joel Embiid dug them out of a hole, but it was far too close for comfort.
Tatum’s history with Team USA and level of play over the past few years should have guaranteed him Olympic minutes.
On the other hand, there are people arguing that Tatum’s fit on this team doesn’t make a ton of sense. And that’s also true.
The Celtics star has been ice cold from three-point range for months now, and with guys like James and Kevin Durant taking most of the touches, that makes him far less effective as an off-ball offensive player. Even when Tatum does get the rock, he’s struggled to find a rhythm in the Olympics.
With Devin Booker and Edwards being hot for most of the tournament, them playing over Tatum makes sense. Tatum just isn’t very comfortable in an off-ball role right now.
All that being said, the extremes on both ends of the argument have gone too far.
The people in the former camp fail to take team fit into consideration. Kerr wants Team USA to win, and if Tatum’s offensive struggles persist, his impact will be limited, despite his defensive and rebounding prowess.
Meanwhile, those taking extreme measures in the latter group are talking about Tatum as if he’s not one of the best players in the world.
Calling Tatum a ball-stopper and inferior player completely disregard the impact on winning he’s had at the NBA level. Just because he may not be a perfect fit with Kerr’s rotations doesn’t mean he’s not one of the best basketball players on the planet. He absolutely is.
The truth lies somewhere in the middle. But social media loves taking extremes. So that’s where the discourse lives. And that sucks.
feed