6x NBA champion accuses Steve Kerr of unfair 'bias' against Celtics star on Team USA
Steve Kerr has been subjected to criticism over Jayson Tatum's limited playing time during the 2024 Paris Olympic basketball tournament. After winning his first NBA championship last season, Tatum made the 12-man roster representing Team USA in the French capital.
Despite coming off a strong season, Tatum hasn't spent much time on the court in the Olympics. Younger players like Anthony Edwards have been more active than Tatum prior to the gold medal game against France. Former Boston Celtics point guard and six-time NBA champion Bob Cousy has taken issue with this situation and called out Kerr:
"Tatum is on the cover of Sports Illustrated this month. Any experts that I’ve read lately have chosen him in the top five, and sometimes No. 1 in the [expletive] world. Now Kerr is telling the world that he doesn’t agree. In a 40-minute game, if you can’t find five minutes to play somebody on the team without hurting yourself," Cousy said, via Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe.
"When Kerr did it last week, he was in no danger of losing the game, but in this case they got down by 17 points and he’s got to worry about losing the game. And then to not let Tatum get off the bench — to me, there’s got to be some kind of bias that he’s got against the Celtics."
The Golden State Warriors coach accepted that he felt bad for not using Jayson Tatum against Serbia in Team USA's first game of the group phase.
Also Read: Steve Kerr clarifies decision to sideline Jayson Tatum from Olympic semifinal vs Serbia: "It's what I’ve seen from the other guys"
Steve Kerr has given Jayson Tatum 2 DNPs during the Paris Olympic basketball tournament
It's been reported that Tatum's absence against Serbia in the group-stage game was due to Steve Kerr thinking he wasn't a good fit against the European team. He didn't see the court for a single minute that day, and the same happened during the semifinals against the same opponent.
Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton remained on the bench for the entire game as Team USA struggled to get past Serbia. It took an extra effort from Steph Curry, Joel Embiid and LeBron James to unlock the game, and it wasn't until the final two minutes of the game that they turned the game around.
It's unclear if Tatum will see playing time against France, but the criticism against Steve Kerr shows no sign of stopping soon.