Team USA is facing Brazil on Tuesday in a Paris Olympics quarterfinal game. Heavy favorites to defeat Brazil and advance to the semifinals against Serbia, Team USA has a major talent advantage in this game. Nothing illustrates this more than who the USA has coming off their bench, as several of their reserves would be the best players on other teams in this tournament.
Making a starting lineup change for this game, Golden State Warriors and Team USA head coach Steve Kerr removed Boston Celtics star Jason Tatum from the starting lineup. Kerr replaced Tatum with his Celtics teammate, as Jrue Holliday was reinserted into the starting lineup.
Tatum started and played 23 minutes in USA’s victory over Puerto Rico to end the Group Phase, but will now be moved to the bench for this quarterfinal game.
Jayson Tatum was already the subject of a controversial moment when he was a DNP-CD against Serbia in an earlier Olympic game. It was a moment that Tatum called “humbling.”
“You win a championship, new contract, NBA 2K25 cover, Sports Illustrated… so after all of this, it’s definitely a humbling experience,” Tatum said to reporters on July 31.
If there’s anything that Tatum’s previous experience against Serbia taught him, it’s to not take this benching personally. He’s on a bench that contains Kevin Durant, Bam Adebayo, and many other All-Stars. Now isn’t the time to take things personally, it’s just the time to win.
