Jayson Tatum admits Paris 2024 experience was ‘tough’ with limited role and refuses to be drawn on LA 2028 Games

TEAM USA basketball star Jayson Tatum opened up on his Paris Olympics rollercoaster ride.

The Boston Celtics star, 26, was part of the US’s gold medal win but his limited playing time has led to questions about his Olympic future .

Getty

Getty

The Americans won all six of their games in the Paris Olympics , but Tatum didn’t see the court in two of the contests, including the comeback semifinal victory over Serbia .

Tatum did come off the bench and play 11 minutes in Team USA ‘s 98-87 victory in the gold medal game against France , scoring just two points.

During the postgame press conference, Tatum was asked if his underwhelming playing time could play a role in his decision to play in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“It was a tough personal experience on the court, but I’m not going to make any decision off emotions,” the 2023-24 Celtics champion answered, via ESPN .

“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.”

Team USA coach Steve Kerr had told the media his reasoning for not playing Tatum was based on the matchups and not his production.

Tatum wasn’t the only player to be benched during the US’s Olympics run.

Joel Embiid didn’t play against South Sudan, Derrick White didn’t appear in the gold medal game and Tyrese Haliburton sat for three games.

Still, Tatum heard frustrations from those close to home about him being on the bench more often than not.

“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.

Getty

Getty

“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.”

LeBron James won the Paris Olympics men’s basketball MVP.

At the age of 39, James finished the Olympics with 14.2 points on 66 percent shooting along with 8.2 assists and 6.8 rebounds.

He now has three career Olympic gold medals.

Steph Curry received his first gold medal at the age of 35.

The Golden State Warriors star scored all 24 of his points from three-point territory in the gold medal game.