Steve Kerr electing to bench Jayson Tatum for Team USA’s first game of the 2024 Paris Olympics drew a lot of criticism, and one his own players called out the Golden State Warriors coach.
“You just don’t not play Jayson Tatum in Game 1 of the Olympics,” Green said during a recent episode of his “Draymond Green Show” podcast.
Kerr elected to go with a 10-man rotation for Team USA’s opening game against Serbia. Despite Tatum and Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton both being benched, the Americans still won, 110-84. The Golden State Warriors coach told reporters after the game that he decided to go with combinations that “made the most sense” for the team. Kerr also wanted to give Kevin Durant extra minutes after he missed some practices due to an injury.
“Not playing (Tatum) was wrong. We all know it was wrong. He should’ve played. He didn’t,” Green said. “What I don’t like about it is, now to me it feels like a covering my tracks, proving a point type of thing to where, oh now Joel (Embiid) is out of the lineup. And then (Saturday), Jrue (Holiday) didn’t play. From the outside looking in, it comes off as, ‘We made a mistake as a coaching staff.’”
Tatum has since returned to the lineup, but Embiid didn’t play in the second game against South Sudan and Holiday was dealing with an ankle injury that kept him out of Saturday’s Group C finale against Puerto Rico. While Team USA is having success, Green isn’t a fan of what Kerr is doing with the lineup.
“Quite frankly, I don’t like it,” he said. “Come out with a rotation and stick with it. These teams aren’t good enough to where we’re trying to match their lineup. They’ve got to match our lineup.”
Team USA returns to action on Tuesday in the quarterfinals against Brazil. It will certainly be interesting to see what kind of lineup Kerr ends up going with, and if he leaves out any star players as the quest for a fifth straight gold medal continues.
