The US men’s basketball team defeated Serbia 110–84 on Sunday to begin Olympic group play, largely as predicted. However, one unexpected absence was present.
The game did not feature Jayson Tatum, the All-Star for the Boston Celtics, who last month inked the richest five-year deal extension in NBA history with the world champs. The only other player who did not participate in the game was Tyrese Haliburton of the Pacers, a guard who is widely thought of as being a tier below Tatum and who was used rather sparingly during the five-game exhibition slate.
Following the game, US coach Steve Kerr stated that forward Kevin Durant’s return was primarily responsible for Tatum’s absence. In just 17 minutes, Durant scored 23 points on 8 of 9 shots. “It’s really hard in a 40-minute game to play more than 10 guys,” Kerr said. “With Kevin coming back, I just went to the combinations that I felt made the most sense. It seems crazy. I thought I was crazy when I looked at everything and determined these are the lineups I wanted to get to.
“Jayson is first-team All-NBA three years in a row. He’s one of the best players in the world. I went with the combinations I felt would make sense, and I talked to him, and he was incredibly professional.”
Kerr emphasized that he does not think these rotations will stay the same for the duration of the Olympics.
“[Tatum will] make his mark,” he said. “Our guys know the key to this whole thing is to put all the NBA stuff in the rearview mirror and just win six games. Jayson is the ultimate pro and champion and he handled it well, and he’s going to be ready for the next game.”
Following the game, Tatum declined to participate in mixed-zone interviews. All he mentioned was that he was doing well. Playing 15 minutes and 40 seconds in Sunday’s victory, Celtics guard Derrick White said he had a conversation with Tatum following the game. “He’s good,” White said. “He’s in good spirits. He’s obviously a hell of a player and we’ve got a lot of great guys on the team, so he’ll be all right.”
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