Steve Kerr Finally Reveals Real Reason He Benched Jayson Tatum

Steve Kerr’s decision to only sporadically play Jason Tatum throughout the 2024 Paris Olympics has been the subject of much debate.

Tatum, in particular, got brutally honest about Kerr’s usage of him earlier this week.

Kerr’s own player, Draymond Green, offered some pretty blunt thoughts on the topic as well a few days ago.

Finally, after hearing all the chatter and speculation, Kerr decided to explain the real reason he has been benching Tatum consistently throughout the Olympics.

“It’s not about anything Jayson is doing or not doing,” Kerr said before Team USA’s showdown against France.

“It’s just about combinations and the way that group has played together, the way Kevin has filled in since he came back from his injury. It’s just a math problem more than anything.”

While a lot of people have criticized Kerr throughout the Olympics, both for his treatment of Tatum and just his overall usage of players, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst believes he has been doing a great job.

“They played FIBA basketball and that’s what Steve Kerr has been training them for the last month,” Windhorst said.

.@WindhorstESPN believes Steve Kerr is properly utilizing Team USA’s depth ✍️

“What league in the world does 12 guys work?” pic.twitter.com/ANKZTRntQR

— First Take (@FirstTake) August 9, 2024

“They responded to the gameplan, training, and delivered. They won that game because yeah, Steph hit some threes because Durant hit some big shots, they won that game because of physical defense. They wouldn’t be allowed to play defense like that way in the NBA. Steve Kerr and the rest of the coaching staff got them ready for it.”

Kerr has certainly done things his own way throughout the 2024 Olympics.

And Tatum, unfortunately, has faced the consequences of that.

It will be interesting to see when the 2024-25 NBA season tips off and the Boston Celtics play the Golden State Warriors whether or not Tatum opts to go extra hard against Kerr’s squad. Nobody would blame him in the slightest if he did.

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.