Charles Barkley Didn't Hold Back When Asked About Jayson Tatum Drama

Charles Barkley is not a fan of the way head coach Steve Kerr and USA Basketball used Jayson Tatum through their run to an Olympic gold medal this summer.

Tatum, who just won an NBA title with the Boston Celtics, played sparingly for Kerr's squad in Paris — including two games in which he didn't take the court for a single minute.

This decision sparked controversy and discourse around the NBA world.

Barkley recently addressed this topic during an appearance on the Dan Le Batard Show.

“There’s no reason for him not to play Jayson Tatum," Barkley said. "Tatum would have been the second-best player on Serbia, probably would have been the best player on France. So for him not to get any minutes in two games… Come on man, that wasn’t right, that wasn’t fair. If you’re going to the Olympics you want to play, you want to play. So I was disappointed Jayson didn’t get to play, I was disappointed Tyrese Haliburton didn’t get to play, especially early. If you want to shorten your rotation in the last couple games that’s fine, but them guys dedicated their summer to the United States.”

Barkley, a member of the 1992 Olympic "Dream Team," called out Kerr following the United States' closely-contested semifinal win over Serbia.

“They shouldn’t be tested,” Barkley says. “They should win. They got the best team. They haven’t used their depth the right way. Because the one advantage we had in ’92 — and they still have today – is when they go to the bench, they’re bringing in better players."

“[Kerr] has not used this team properly,” he continued. “It should never be a debate on guys getting to play or not getting to play. Listen, putting Jayson Tatum in an NBA game, he’s gonna be better than 99% of the guys already in the world, but especially guys coming from a foreign country. You just kind of keep your guys on a treadmill and keep them rolling around.”

While Barkley may disagree with Kerr's player rotations, it's hard to argue with the results.

Related: Charles Barkley Admonishes Steve Kerr