Jayson Tatum opens up about 'tough' Olympic role after gold medal win

Jayson Tatum knows his surprisingly limited Olympic role will give him extra motivation when the Boston Celtics’ season begins this fall.

But that didn’t make it any more palatable in the moment.

After Team USA defeated France 98-87 on Saturday to claim its fifth straight gold medal, Tatum acknowledged that his lack of playing time was difficult to digest.

Tatum, a first-team All-NBA selection in each of the last three seasons, played in just four of the U.S.’s six games in Paris, scoring a total of 21 points in the tournament. He did not leave the bench in the Americans’ come-from-behind win over Serbia in the semifinals and had two points, three rebounds and one steal in 11 minutes in the gold medal game.

“A lot of people text me and reached out and said, ‘Make sure this fuels you,’ which I appreciate. There’s a lot of people that care about me,” Tatum told reporters in Paris, via ESPN. “I think the tough part is yes, you can use things to fuel you, but I’m still human. …

“Part of being in the moment, I’ve sacrificed and put a lot into this game and work really, really hard. So in the moment it is tough. You’re not necessarily worried about fueling me for November or (whenever) the season is, but like I said, it’s something I’m going to take away from this and learn from this experience. It’s definitely challenging and humbling at the same time.”

U.S. head coach Steve Kerr faced strong criticism from current and former NBA players, Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck, and Tatum’s mother after not using the Boston superstar against Serbia. Kerr called the benching a “math problem” and said it was not related to Tatum’s performance.

Team USA’s roster for the 2024 Olympics was one of the strongest in the nation’s history, featuring four NBA Most Valuable Players (LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid) and seven players with at least one first-team All-NBA nod.

James, Durant and Curry — three of the greatest players in NBA history — were the team’s engine in the medal rounds, combining for 114 points in the wins over Serbia and France. Curry had 60 of those on 17-for-26 3-point shooting (65.4%) and nailed four late threes on Saturday to secure gold for the U.S.

This likely was the final Olympiad for those three future Hall of Famers, as they’ll all be over 40 when the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles arrive. The 26-year-old Tatum should be a core member of the next Olympic team — unless his experience in Paris deters him from participating.

“It was a tough personal experience on the court, but I’m not going to make any decision off emotions,” said Tatum, who joined James and Michael Jordan as the only players ever to make first-team All-NBA, win an NBA title and earn Olympic gold in the same year. “If you asked me right now if I was going to play in 2028 — it is four years from now and I (would have) to take time and think about that. So I’m not going to make any decision based off how this experience was or how I felt individually.”

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