Bob Cousy rips Steve Kerr over Jayson Tatum benching ‘embarrassment’

A lot of people are annoyed at Jayson Tatum’s lack of playing time with Team USA.

Add Bob Cousy to the list.

The Celtics legend and basketball Hall of Famer, who is now 96 years old, recently spoke on Tatum not getting playing time yet again as he was shelved for Team USA’s come-from-behind Olympic semifinal win over Serbia on Thursday.

“This isn’t just a snub,” Cousy said in an interview with the Boston Globe on Friday. “This is an embarrassment for that poor kid all over the [expletive] world. The Olympics have gotten that big. Everyone’s going to think that there’s something wrong this this kid.”

Tatum, despite being widely considered the best player on the Celtics on what was the best team and 2024 NBA Champions, is one of three Boston stars on Team USA — and the only one not in the regular rotation.

Starting Celtics guards Derrick White and Jrue Holiday have been mainstays in the rotation — with Holiday also starting for the Americans — while Tatum has now been a DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision) in two of the team’s five games.

The events to watch at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, August 10

The only other one who has is Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, the secon- youngest player on the team.

Cousy also said that he believes “someone from Boston should stand up” for Tatum.

“When [coach Steve] Kerr did it last week, he was in no danger of losing the game, but in this case, they got down by 17 points, and he’s got to worry about losing the game. And then to not let Tatum get off the bench — to me, there’s got to be some kind of bias that he’s got against the Celtics.”

Kerr got wind of the accusation and countered .

“It’s not about anything Jayson is doing or not doing,” Kerr said. “It’s just about combinations and the way that group has played together, the way Kevin has filled in since he came back from his injury. It’s just a math problem more than anything.”

While Tatum’s absence has caused something of an uproar, Team USA is 5-0 and has only had one close victory since the games started officially.

Dave Portnoy hopes France ‘smacks’ USA basketball after Jayson Tatum’s Olympics benching

And when you look at the rosters, there’s a pathway to justify Tatum’s absence.

There are 12 players on Team USA to play 40-minute games, and given the lack of timeouts in international play, you’re still likely to go 10-deep in your rotation — as is the case with many elite teams in EuroLeague and Europe in general, but occasionally, one could expand.

Oftentimes, 10 is the number you’d project to use, especially in an Olympic tournament.

Of Kerr’s 10: Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo are needed as bigs, the latter two are especially needed for versatile defense and — especially in Davis’ case — rebounding, while Embiid starts.

Steph Curry is Steph Curry, plus defense is why Holiday and White work as glue guys in the backcourt.

Otherwise, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Anthony Edwards are the wings who play ahead of Tatum, who provides duplication on the roster compared to what the others do.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR STARTING LINEUP NEWSLETTER

And, to this point, Booker or Edwards could be seen as the “odd man out” for Tatum — but both have simply played better.

Booker’s the team’s sixth-leading scorer and is shooting 61 percent from 3-point land, tying Durant for the team lead.

Edwards is second on the team scoring behind James while shooting 60 percent from the field and 45 percent from deep.

Tatum is averaging 19.9 minutes across his three appearances, and he’s scoring just 6.3 points while shooting 39 percent from the field and is 0-for-3 from deep.

The Americans will play France for the gold medal on Saturday.

It’ll be the second straight Olympics where USA and France face off in the final.

Team USA narrowly beat France 87-82 for the gold in 2021.

For the latest in sports, top headlines, breaking news and more, visit nypost.com/sports/