Jayson Tatum admitted he was greatly surprised by his benching throughout Workforce USA’s opening 2024 Olympics recreation towards Serbia final weekend.
In an interview with The Athletic, Tatum, 26, referred to as the sport a “humbling expertise” in spite of everything he has achieved since his Celtics received the NBA title in June.
“Undoubtedly a humbling expertise, proper?” Tatum stated of his benching towards Serbia. “Win a championship, new contract, cowl of (NBA) 2K and then you definately sit a complete recreation. Cowl of Sports activities Illustrated. So it was undoubtedly a humbling expertise.”
Tatum, a five-time All-Star, didn’t get into the sport throughout the 110-84 win regardless of enjoying 17.6 minutes per contest throughout Workforce USA’s 5 Olympic exhibition video games.
2024 PARIS OLYMPICS
Towards South Sudan a number of days later, Tatum began and performed 17 minutes, scoring 4 factors with 5 rebounds and two assists.
In that recreation, Joel Embiid was the NBA celebrity who couldn’t crack head coach Steve Kerr’s rotation, as soon as once more setting social media ablaze.
With all of the chatter surrounding his lineup choices, Kerr maintained to The Athletic that everybody on Workforce USA is dedicated to a aim a lot bigger than who will get extra courtroom.
“I imply, these guys are all champions, All-Stars, Corridor of Famers, nonetheless you need to put it,” Kerr stated. “So the entire thing is, are we dedicated to the aim? That’s it. I all the time inform our guys with the Warriors, the rationale they pay us some huge cash is there’s a lot curiosity worldwide in what we do. And so you may’t have it each methods. You possibly can’t settle for your wage after which get mad at social media or get mad in any respect the protection.
“The great thing about the Olympics is none of that crap issues. And I do know everybody’s going to put in writing about it, however none of that crap issues. We’re simply making an attempt to win each recreation and win a gold medal, and it’s an extremely pure feeling and the fellows are dedicated to one another and so they’re not going to fret about any of that.”
The US will tackle Puerto Rico of their remaining group play recreation on Saturday morning.
