PARIS — Jayson Tatum mentioned his restricted position taking part in for Crew USA this summer season is not going to have an effect on his determination to play for the nationwide workforce sooner or later.
Tatum didn’t play in two of the six video games within the Olympics, together with the semifinal victory over Serbia on Thursday. He then got here off the bench within the first quarter and performed 11 minutes in Crew USA’s victory within the gold medal sport Saturday in opposition to France, scoring two factors with three rebounds.
“It was a troublesome private expertise on the court docket, however I am not going to make any determination off feelings,” Tatum mentioned. “If you happen to requested me proper now if I used to be going to play in 2028 — it’s 4 years from now and I [would have] to take time and take into consideration that. So I am not going to make any determination based mostly off how this expertise was or how I felt individually.”
Crew USA coach Steve Kerr mentioned repeatedly his alternative to not play Tatum was not based mostly on efficiency however matchups. Tatum missed each video games in opposition to Serbia, the place Kerr typically performed an even bigger lineup. He additionally was usually taking part in behind LeBron James and Kevin Durant, who performed on the second unit for the primary 5 video games till beginning within the ultimate.
Kerr sat starter Joel Embiid for a sport in opposition to a smaller South Sudan. He sat Derrick White throughout the gold medal sport. Tyrese Haliburton did not play in three video games. Tatum mentioned a number of instances after the sport that he was thrilled with successful his second gold medal and did not need his state of affairs to remove from the workforce’s success.
However he additionally acknowledged, as a three-time All-NBA participant and lately topped NBA champion, he was listening to lots about it from dwelling.
“Lots of people textual content me and reached out and mentioned ‘Ensure that this fuels you,’ which I respect. There’s lots of people that care about me,” Tatum mentioned. “I believe the powerful half is sure, you need to use issues to gasoline you, however I am nonetheless human.
“…A part of being within the second, I’ve sacrificed and put lots into this sport and work actually, actually exhausting. So within the second it’s powerful. You are not essentially apprehensive about fueling me for November or [whenever] the season is, however like I mentioned, it is one thing I am going to remove from this and study from this expertise. It is positively difficult and humbling on the identical time.”