The Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green discussed Team USA's lineup choices in the Paris Olympics on his podcast, particularly the limited playtime of the Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum. Green questioned Tatum's absence in the game against Serbia, where neither Tatum nor Tyrese Haliburton of Indiana saw any playtime.
Green highlighted the irony of critiquing Team USA's lineup decisions when the head coach is Steve Kerr, who also coaches the Warriors. He expressed disbelief that Tatum, after a stellar season culminating in his first NBA championship and a $315 million contract, was excluded from the game plan.
“With Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton not playing a single minute in game one, which was crazy,” Green said. “You don't not play Jayson Tatum that man just won an NBA championship, cover of NBA 2k, cover of Sports Illustrated saying cheers, just signed the biggest contract in NBA history. Oh, by the way, your reward is sit down and don't play it in the first Olympic game.”
Following the opener, Tatum saw increased playtime, starting and playing over 20 minutes in subsequent games. His standout performance was in the victory over Puerto Rico, where he scored 10 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out three assists, and made two steals. Green suggested that if any player were to be benched, it should be Haliburton and Derrick White.
“So when you're going into that game my thought process was if you're not going to play two guys, the two guys you're probably not going to play as Tyrese [Haliburton] and Dereck [White],” Green said. “And in 2021, our team, our offense was built around Jayson Tatum and Kevin Durant. And it was almost kind of set up as though like KD [Durant] was passing the torch to JT [Tatum] and then JT come out and not play. I couldn't believe that.”
The evolution of Tatum's with Team USA is to be watched closely, especially in the upcoming quarterfinal matchup with Brazil on Tuesday, Aug. 6, at 3:30 p.m. ET.
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