Although being on Team USA should be considered a privilege, the image fans have of Jayson Tatum has reduced slightly. As the majority of the basketball community should be aware, Tatum and the Celtics finally managed to get the job done this offseason and won an NBA championship. Not only did he sign a supermax contract, JT was one of the few players chosen to represent Team USA at the Paris Olympics.
While Tatum may not have won the Finals MVP award or lived up to expectations throughout the series against the Mavericks, many still consider him one of the league’s top players. However, the way he has been treated on the Team USA roster is another issue entirely and requires a better look.
Kevin Durant took over Jayson Tatum’s spot on the roster
Considering that Jayson Tatum is listed at 6’9, he will be playing the same position as Kevin Durant on the court for Team USA. Although the Celtics star was given a fair amount of playing time during the exhibition games, he did not see any action in the group stage opener vs Serbia.
Since Kevin Durant made an impressive return to lead Team USA to victory, one can understand why Tatum had to play fewer minutes. However, seeing those minutes reduce to nothing was something that fans did not see coming. Even Steve Kerr stated that he felt stupid over leaving Tatum out of the lineup and that he would not make the same mistake again.
Team USA played against South Sudan for their second group stage game and ended up blowing them out. Although Tatum got the chance to start this game, he struggled to score and finished the night with just 4 points. While Jayson may be feeling frustrated over his poor performance, he appears to have quite a lot of support at this point in time.Kendrick Perkins claimed that Team USA embarrassed and disrespected Jayson Tatum
Kendrick Perkins is a former star who transitioned to become a member of the media after his career came to an end. Since Perkins won an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008, he has been quite supportive of Tatum and the Celtics. As a result, Kendrick was quite vocal after it was revealed that Tatum sat out an entire game.
Big Perk went far enough to claim that Team USA embarrassed and disrespected Tatum by not giving him any time on the court. Given that the game against Serbia was not very close toward the final stages, Steve Kerr should have considered sending Tatum out for a while.In any case, all the stars on Team USA are quite aware of the fact that they will have to sacrifice their ego and become roleplayers in order to help the team succeed.