Steve Kerr Reveals Surprise Reason for Benching Jayson Tatum in 1st Game

The United States men's basketball team defeated Serbia 110-84 in their Group C opener at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, but there were two star players who failed to crack the rotation for the Stars & Stripes.

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum and Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton were both DNPs, the only two players on the twelve-man roster to be left on the American's bench.

USA Basketball head coach Steve Kerr said in his post-game press conference that, at least for Tatum, it was a basketball decision. The Golden State Warriors coach said he "went with the combinations that made sense," adding that Tatum "handled it well" and promising that the Boston wing "will make his mark".

Boston Globe beat writer Gary Washburn reported that Tatum was the last USA player out of the locker room and he didn't warm up before the game, going straight to the bench. However, Tatum indicated that he was not injured, according to a Washburn tweet after the game. The fact that Haliburton was also a DNP added some speculation to those being coach's decisions, as opposed to an injury.

All of Tatum's minutes seemed to go to Kevin Durant, who scored 23 points off the bench in his return from a calf injury that kept him out of the pre-Olympics warm up games.

C's guard Jrue Holiday was part of the starting five, scoring 15 points with three assists in 23 minutes. Derrick White, a late addition to the team, scored two points and was a +11 in fifteen minutes.

After leading by nine at the half, the USA extended its lead to 19 points by the end of the third quarter. The fourth quarter was essentially garbage time, meaning Kerr had the option to bring whoever he wanted into the game, to try out different rotations, or to just get everyone on the team some run. The fact that he didn't put Tatum and Haliburton into a blowout win makes his claim that he was going with the best matchups ring fairly hollow.

Tatum played a topsy-turvy role in the lead-up to the Olympics, making some starts and coming off the bench. However, Durant came off the bench in his return from injury and Tatum, who went 0-6 from three-point land in the five warm-up games, was left out entirely.

The Americans play again on July 31 at 3:00 PM against South Sudan. The USA needed a Lebron James layup with seconds to go to defeat the South Sudanese 101-100 a week ago in an Olympics tune-up in London. South Sudan then shocked Puerto Rico 90-78 on Sunday for their first Olympic victory ever.

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