Steve Kerr Explained Why Joel Embiid Didn’t Play Against South Sudan And Said He’ll Start Against Puerto Rico

The United States men’s basketball team is on its way to the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics. While the team has one game left in group play, the Americans secured their spot in the quarters on Wednesday with a 103-86 win over South Sudan . It was an interesting game for the United States as South Sudan gave them everything they could handle in the lead-up to the Olympics, as they barely survived when they played in a pre-tournament exhibition.

Before the game, Steve Kerr tweaked his starting lineup and put Joel Embiid on the bench . Embiid, the 2022-23 NBA MVP, ended up not playing at all , as he was the only player who got a DNP-CD against South Sudan. And after the game, Kerr addressed the situation by making it clear this was 100 percent a matchup-dependent move, with Embiid in line to regain his spot in the starting lineup in the team’s group finale against Puerto Rico.

After the game, Kevin Durant praised Embiid (and Jayson Tatum, who did not play in the opener) for accepting the role.

Embiid, who chose to play for the U.S. on the international stage over Cameroon and France, had started every game in the lead-up to the Olympics and in the team’s opener against Serbia, but Kerr decided to go with Anthony Davis in the starting lineup and Bam Adebayo off the bench — Adebayo, in particular, had an excellent game against South Sudan. But it appears that Kerr learned from the first game, where Tatum getting a DNP-CD turned into a thing in the aftermath, and made it a point to say that Embiid will get back into the starting lineup on Saturday.