USA Basketball coach Steve Kerr DNPs another Eastern Conference star in Olympics

The early rounds of the Olympics Men’s Basketball Group Phase have been a breeze for Team USA, but a trial of patience for star players out of the Eastern Conference.

Former NBA MVP and Sixers big man Joel Embiid sat the entirety of a 103-86 win over South Sudan, just days after three-time All-NBA Celtic Jayson Tatum was handed a DNP against Serbia.

Team USA coach Steve Kerr told reporters he “felt like an idiot” sitting Tatum through the first game of the Group Phase, but started Tatum in the second. Following this game, Kerr told Washington Post writer Ben Golliver his lineups were based on South Sudan’s “speed.”

Both Tatum and Embiid’s Olympic stat lines have been a far cry from their usual NBA production. Tatum posted 4 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists against South Sudan, while Embiid had 4 points, 2 rebounds, and 0 assists against Serbia.

Kerr already announced another shakeup in the starters ahead of Friday’s game against Puerto Rico. According to Golliver, Kerr intends to start LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday, and Embiid.

Kerr’s whack-a-mole style of lineup rotations can’t just be frustrating for fans of Boston and Philadelphia, even if Embiid kept a happy face on the bench Wednesday. Tatum joined Team USA just weeks after helping to lead Boston to its first championship in 16 years, and his benching created a media storm in the dog days of summer sports. Embiid won NBA MVP just last year. Although he was born in Cameroon, he was granted U.S. citizenship in 2022 and tweeted that his decision to play for Team USA in the Olympics was to “honor” his American-born son.

Representing the stars and stripes in the Olympics may not carry the same weight as it did with Michael Jordan’s 1992 Dream Team, but 32 years later, it’s still a big enough honor for a star like Jaylen Brown to express his disappointment in feeling snubbed by the selection process on social media. It’s difficult to swallow the notion that Kerr can’t possibly find minutes for every roster player in these lopsided contests. It looks more like a coach that bizarrely demands the league’s top stars rotate on the pine, rather than have older, albeit more seasoned, players like James, Curry, and Durant pass the Olympic torch to the younger crew.