Jayson Tatum says 'tough personal experience' in Paris won't impact decision on playing in 2028 Olympics

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum says that his "tough personal experience" with Team USA during the 2024 Paris Olympics will not impact his decision on whether or not to return to the international scene for the 2028 Games, which are to be held in Los Angeles.

Tatum, who was the second-leading scorer for Team USA en route to a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and was coming off a championship run with the Celtics, became the odd man out in Paris due to the return of veteran stars LeBron James and Steph Curry.

"It was a tough personal experience on the court, but I'm not going to make any decision off emotions," Tatum told reporters after the Americans defeated France to win a fifth consecutive gold medal. "If you asked me right now if I was going to play in 2028 -- it is four years from now and I [would have] to take time and think about that. So I'm not going to make any decision based off how this experience was or how I felt individually."

He did not play in two of Team USA's six games, including the semifinal win over Serbia, and finished the tournament averaging 5.3 points and 5.3 rebounds on 38.1% shooting from the field. All told, he played fewer minutes than both of his Celtics teammates on the roster, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White.

Tatum is at his best with the ball in his hands, when he can dictate the offense and make plays for himself and others. That was not going to happen this summer as Steve Kerr and USA Basketball made a decision that the offense for this team was going to run through James, Curry and Kevin Durant.

Another issue for Tatum is that his outside shot has deserted him in recent months. A career 37.5% shooter from the 3-point line, Tatum was at 28.3% in the playoffs and did not make a single shot from behind the arc in Paris. It's hard to play a spot-up role when you're not making shots.

All that being said, it was still surprising that Tatum became so marginalized during this tournament.

"A lot of people text me and reached out and said 'Make sure this fuels you,' which I appreciate. There's a lot of people that care about me," Tatum said. "I think the tough part is yes, you can use things to fuel you, but I'm still human.

"...Part of being in the moment, I've sacrificed and put a lot into this game and work really, really hard. So in the moment it is tough. You're not necessarily worried about fueling me for November or [whenever] the season is, but like I said, it's something I'm going to take away from this and learn from this experience. It's definitely challenging and humbling at the same time."

With James and Curry unlikely to return to Team USA, and Durant also a long-shot, Tatum could step into a leading role on the 2028 team. Whether he'll be willing to sacrifice yet another summer for the program remains to be seen.