NBC Sports Boston's Chris Forsberg believes Steve Kerr is, like he called himself, an idiot, if he benched Jayson Tatum for any other reason than trying to set a tone of sacrifice for his Team USA roster ahead of their run for the gold during the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
"In our minds, there is only one logical reason that Team USA head coach Steve Kerr elected not to play Jayson Tatum in Sunday’s Olympic opener in Paris, and that was to set a tone of sacrifice for a talent-gushing roster hell-bent on a gold-medal finish," Forsberg wrote.
"Because there is no other rational reason to bench a healthy, All-NBA First-Teamer coming off a championship season. Kerr admitted after Team USA’s lopsided win over Serbia that he 'felt like an idiot' for not playing Tatum, and that would be an accurate assessment if there was any other motivation behind the decision."
Steve Kerr on why he didn't play Jayson Tatum
Kerr used anger at questions that weren't even asked when he addressed reporters on July 29 as to why he didn't play Tatum against Serbia in Team USA's first matchup of Olympic play.
“Jayson will play,” Kerr said (h/t ESPN).“I’m not going to answer your next question, which is if he plays, who doesn’t. But we’re going to need him, and part of this job for me is to keep everybody engaged and ready, because my experience with this is crazy stuff happens.”
It's clear that Kerr's mistake is making him feel bad enough to the point where lashing out in defense is his only gameplan without being direct.
Of course, if the reasons for Tatum's benching have anything to do with his support for Jaylen Brown amidst an ongoing feud with Nike, Kerr was never going to address them head-on.