Nearly a week after the U.S. men's basketball team captured the gold medal in the men's basketball tournament at the 2024 Olympics , people are still talking about Jayson Tatum getting a pair of DNPs in Paris.
According to former Team USA player and 2016 NBA champion Richard Jefferson , that's the problem with the Americans when it comes to sending NBA superstars to play for the National Team.
"That's the most confusing thing about USA Basketball," said Jefferson on The Mark Jackson Show. "We want them to let go of their egos and be a team but then we constantly are pushing, 'What's this going to do to your ego? What's this going to do with your psyche?' You're an NBA champion, and you're not going to play. And it's like, well, isn't that what this was about? Isn't this about giving up of ourselves, coaches trying to figure the rotations of, 'I'm the odd man out'? Like that's the psyche thing that becomes so hard with USA basketball."
KD's return took away Tatum's minutes
According to Jefferson, it's absolutely hard to field a competitive team if the coach is trying to give every player on the squad equal minutes because he doesn't want to piss anybody off. RJ says that in an ideal situation, a coach has his regular rotation, which means there will be at least one odd man out. Unfortunately, in those two games, it was Tatum.
Richard also said that Jayson's minutes were affected by Kevin Durant's return. He said there were games when JT was okay, but KD just gave Team USA a different and better look when he was on the court. It also didn't help Tatum's cause that in Durant's first game back, he put on a scintillating shooting display by making his first eight shots. That set the tone for the rest of the tournament regarding who Steve Kerr trusted more.
"That's just the reality of the situation," added RJ. "It sucks that it was Jayson Tatum but it was also Tyrese Haliburton, one of the young best guards in the world. He didn't play. This man is helming his team. He's the best player on his team. He's sitting on that bench too. So it's not just Jayson Tatum."
Related: "Frequently it was heated" — Steve Kerr claims Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen's conversations in practice usually had tension
Hali joked about his Olympic experience
But while Tatum and his camp kept on talking about his lack of minutes, Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton , who also had a DNP and played the fewest minutes on the team, took things well. Hali even joked about his Olympic experience by comparing himself to a student who got the best grade by just being part of a great school project.
"When you ain't do nun on the group project and still get an A," Haliburton captioned a photo of himself showing off his Olympic gold medal.
Jefferson said Tatum did have the right to get pissed off because of his stature, especially since he was coming off his first NBA title. However, he says the complaints from everyone were too much. Team USA entered Paris wanting to win the gold, not to showcase everyone. They had a job to do, and that's the only thing that should've mattered.
Related: "There's got to be some kind of bias that he's got against the Celtics" - Bob Cousy calls out Kerr for his treatment of Tatum
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