Which NBA player at the 2024 Summer Olympics will experience significant growth from their time playing for Team USA in Paris this summer? Will it be the new all-time Team USA Men’s Basketball leading scorer Kevin Durant? Or maybe one of the two other elite players who comprise the new age Team USA triad alongside Durant, LeBron James and Steph Curry?
None of the above, according to ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins. In fact, Perkins thinks it will be one of the players who didn’t get the playing time he deserved during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Jayson Tatum.
Tatum, who helped lead the Boston Celtics to an NBA Championship this past season and was the only player on Team USA who was an All-NBA First Team Member during the 2024 season, played the second fewest minutes (71 minutes total) during the Olympic Games in Paris, alongside Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, the latter of whom played the fewest at 26 minutes of action over the team’s six games. Tatum played zero minutes in Team USA’s 110-84 win over Serbia in the first game of the tournament and then again when Team USA faced Serbia in the semi-finals.
When asked why Tatum didn’t play against Serbia, Team USA head coach Steve Kerr explained in the post-game conference, “Every game’s gonna be different based on matchups. He’s a total pro, he’s first-team All-NBA three years in a row. I felt like an idiot not playing him, but you know, 40-minute game, you can’t play more than 10 [players]. Regarding the semifinals, Kerr told The Boston Globe, “It’s not what I’m not seeing from Jayson. It’s what I’ve seen from the other guys. Like I’ve said many times during this tournament and the last six weeks, it’s just hard to play 11 people, even in an NBA game.”
Perkins thinks that Tatum will weaponize the perceived playing time disrespect in the 2024 Summer Olympics to ameliorate his upcoming 2024-2025 season for the Celtics, instead of simply being content with winning a championship and resting on his laurels.
“I know this may sound crazy, especially for a guy that’s just fresh off winning his first NBA championship,” Perkins said on ESPN First Take, “the highest-paid player in the NBA, a guy that has been first-team All-NBA several times now, I’m going with Jayson Tatum. Look, he’s a gold medalist, and congratulations. But we know the highs, the lows that he went through over there in Paris. We saw his momma, his mother, she was frustrated with his lack of playing time.”
Perkins thinks that Tatum, after having a stellar season in 2023-2024, one where he was an NBA champion, All-NBA First Team member and an All-Star, will make an even bigger leap in 2024-2025.
“This is a guy that averaged 30 in the league a couple of seasons ago,” Perkins continued. “He averaged right around 27, 28 points per game last season and an NBA champion. This is Jayson Tatum, in my opinion, a Top 10 player in the league. He’s gonna come out standing on business.”
Do you agree with Kendrick Perkins that Jayson Tatum will “come out standing on business” after Team USA playing time snub? Do you think that head coach Steve Kerr disrespected Tatum by not playing him at all against Team Serbia and playing him the second fewest minutes out of every player on the team or is the criticism of Tatum’s playing time overblown? Let us know in the comments.
