Much was said about Steve Kerr over his decision to bench Jayson Tatum during the last two games of the 2024 Olympics. Team USA, led by Lebron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant, won the gold medal anyway.
Still, many just would not let it go. Many analyst and NBA media personalities think the Boston Celtics star was disrespected by the Golden State Warriors coach and now, he is on a revenge tour.
Celtics legend Cedric Maxwell has a different take. He is one of the few NBA big names who is siding with Kerr for what he did in Paris.
“Steve Kerrs job is to win an Olympic gold medal, not make friends, and he did his job. Jayson Tatum wasn’t playing well & I don’t think [Kerr] deserved all that,” he said via Bay Area’s sports station 95.7 The Game.
The criticism of Kerr stems from the fact that Tatum was just coming off an NBA title victory where he was close to winning the Finals MVP.
He was benched in the last two games and averaged 5.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.3 apg and 1.0 spg in 17.7 mpg.
Steve Kerr addresses Jayson Tatum issue before encounter
“I felt like an idiot not playing him, but you know, 40-minute game, you can’t play more than 10 [players].”
This is what Kerr said when asked the first time about Tatum benching.
He and the Celtics star meet again on Wednesday for a showdown between two powerhouses and Kerr did not escape questions about the August incident.
He defended that he just stuck to the goal of everybody and the country – that is to win the gold medal. Thus, he has no regrets.
“Steve Kerr says, when it comes to the noise surrounding Jayson Tatum sitting with Team USA, ‘We can’t control the story,'” he said said as reported ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
“Said he didn’t enjoy having to leave Tatum and Joel Embiid out for different games but that the goal of winning gold was achieved [and] that was the real story.”
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