Stephen Curry Confirms Why Steve Kerr Benched Jayson Tatum

Steve Kerr’s decision to bench Jayson Tatum for most of the 2024 Paris Olympics was a move that came under intense scrutiny.

Even Kerr’s own Golden State Warriors player, Draymond Green, had some very blunt thoughts on the topic.

This week, ahead of Team USA’s gold medal winning performance against France, Kerr gave the real reason why he opted to bench Tatum.

It didn’t take long for people to read between the lines.

The ‘math problem’ Kerr referred to when describing why he couldn’t find minutes for Tatum was that Devin Booker was inarguably the most versatile role player on the American side. That is why he started in every game and received huge praise from Kerr afterwards.

“Devin Booker is an incredible basketball player,” Kerr said following the gold medal game. “Nobody asked about him. He was our unsung MVP. I just wanted to say that.”

This marked the second time in less than a week that Kerr described Booker as Team USA’s best player.

“He’s probably the guy who’s been most adaptable to go from a different role in the NBA to a new one here. He’s such a big scorer in the league, but just like in Tokyo, he’s adapted to being an on-ball guy, ball mover, the offense clicks when he’s out there and the defense is really good,” Kerr said of Booker previously.

“That’s why he’s started every Game and seems to be good with any combination.”

One person who agreed with Kerr’s assessment? His other Warriors player, Stephen Curry.

This is what Curry posted following the game against France:

Clearly he was really impressed with Booker as well.

The reality of the situation is, Tatum didn’t hit a single jump shot throughout the entire Olympics. He also couldn’t facilitate the offense. And he wasn’t the lockdown defender that someone like Jrue Holiday is.

Team USA already had better scorers than him available. They didn’t need Tatum. And that, above all else, is why he got no minutes in this year’s Olympics.

Carlos Garcia

A longtime Sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB Games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.