The Crew USA males’s basketball staff received its 2024 Summer season Olympics debut in Paris on Sunday, defeating Serbia, 110-84.
One of many largest headlines popping out of the Individuals’ victory, nevertheless, was the wholesome scratch of Boston Celtics five-time All-Star ahead Jayson Tatum.
Tatum was considered one of simply two members of Kerr’s squad to not see the ground on Sunday together with Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton.
The Golden State Warriors longtime head coach mentioned on Monday that Tatum will play in Crew USA’s second contest, set for Wednesday towards South Sudan.
“Jayson will play (Wednesday),” Kerr mentioned, in response to a report by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. “I am not going to reply your subsequent query, which is that if he performs, who would not. However we will want him, and a part of this job for me is to maintain all people engaged and prepared, as a result of my expertise with that is loopy stuff occurs.”
Per Windhorst, Kerr met with the 2024 NBA champion earlier than Sunday’s contest to clarify the choice.
Olympics veterans Kevin Durant and LeBron James did many of the heavy lifting for the Individuals over Nikola Jokic’s crew.
KD shook off his calf damage to attain a game-high 23 factors in 17 minutes off the bench, capturing 8-for-9 from the sector, together with 5-for-5 on three-pointers. James posted 21 factors on 9-for-13 capturing, and all 10 gamers who appeared in Sunday’s win had been on the court docket for at the very least 11 minutes.
That included Tatum’s Celtics teammates Jrue Vacation (15 factors in 24 minutes) and Derrick White (two factors in 16 minutes).
In response to Windhorst’s report, Tatum performed between 14 and 21 minutes in every of Crew USA’s 4 exhibition video games, however these all got here with Durant out of motion.
“In opposition to South Sudan, a staff that’s loaded with athleticism and spreads the ground with 3-point shooters, Tatum and his capacity to change on wings makes way more sense,” Windhorst wrote.
