Celtics’ Jayson Tatum Breaks Silence About Team USA Benching During Olympics

The United States men’s national basketball team took home the gold during the 2024 Olympics in Paris a few weeks ago, bringing together some of the best talent that the NBA has to offer. Team USA went undefeated during its quest to win the gold (6-0 in competition, 5-0 in exhibition play) but the journey didn’t come without some drama.

One of the main storylines came from Team USA head coach Steve Kerr choosing to bench Boston Celtics All-NBA power forward Jayson Tatum in two separate incidents. This caused much backlash toward the Golden State Warriors coach and created an entirely separate narrative of outside noise around the team.

While everything was happening, Tatum didn’t say much. He didn’t want to be a distraction to his teammates or the overall goal of the team.

But the five-time All-Star has finally opened up about it all, calling the coverage of it “a lot.”

“It was a lot. In the age of social media, you see everything,” Tatum told The Athletic’s Jared Weiss. “You see all the tweets and the people on the podcasts and people on TV giving their opinion on whether they thought it was a good decision or it was an outrageous decision or whatever. Obviously, I wanted to contribute more, and I’ve never been in (this) situation. I started playing basketball at (age) 3 at the YMCA, and I’ve never not played, so it was different and it was challenging.”

Kerr came under fire for his decision by former NBA players and even Tatum’s mom. Many see the forward as one of the better players in the NBA right now so the decision to leave him on the bench was controversial.

Read more: Jayson Tatum’s Mom Calls Team USA Benching ‘Unnacceptable’

Considering that Tatum was only a few weeks removed from helping the Celtics win another championship, most expected for him to be a key piece to the Americans’ international roster. It didn’t shake out that way, but Tatum isn’t letting it get him down.

“It’s one of those things where there’s been so much talk and debate,” Tatum said. “There was a period of is he a superstar or not? Then it was a big debate, like, is he championship ready now? Then it’s like how could he not get in the (Olympics)? I’m like, I just won a championship, it’s the summertime, it might be nice to have a little break where you don’t turn on ESPN and they’re talking about you. But I guess this is part of it, and that may be the level that I’ve reached now in my career.”

If anything, Tatum can use this as motivation moving forward. He can show the world that the decision to bench him was wrong, but it seems that he has learned how to deal with different adversity over the years.

Tatum won his second gold medal during these games and that is something nobody can ever take away from him.

More news: Celtics Legend Calls it ‘Great’ Jayson Tatum Didn’t Play a Lot for Team USA