Stephen A ‘never sad’ to see Tatum torch Dubs after Olympics benching originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Warriors coach Steve Kerr didn’t make any friends in Boston when he benched Celtics star Jayson Tatum during the 2024 Paris Olympics, but he helped guide Team USA to a gold medal.
Still, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith believes Kerr made an “egregious” mistake leaving Tatum out of his rotation during the summer games — and it filled the NBA analyst with joy to see Tatum drop 22 points in Boston’s blowout win over a shorthanded Golden State squad on Monday.
“It was predictable, but I’m never sad, and I’m never going to be sad to see Jayson Tatum give it to the Golden State Warriors,” Smith said on Tuesday’s “First Take” episode. “I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Steve Kerr’s one of the greatest coaches in NBA history. Not here to question his basketball acumen or whatever. I’m here to compliment him by recognizing his greatness and using that to make the point.
“You don’t go up to an All-NBA player in Olympic competition before a game and tell him, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to be able to find minutes for you. And I got 10 dudes to put in.’ [Tatum’s] been First-Team All-NBA the last [three years] and two guys that defer to him all season long are on the Olympic team. And you’re playing them, but you can’t find minutes. It was one of the most egregious things that I’ve seen, and any time Jayson Tatum kicks the Warriors’ ass, I’m going to be happy about it as long as Kerr’s the coach, because that was wrong.”
Kerr drew the ire of Celtics fans — and Smith, apparently — when he benched Tatum twice during the Olympics. After Tatum had the second-fewest minutes of any player on Team USA’s roster, many viewed Golden State’s matchup with Boston at TD Garden in November as a “revenge game” for the Celtics star.
After dropping 32 points in the Celtics’ loss to the Warriors, Tatum told reporters he didn’t view it as such.
“It wasn’t on my mind,” Tatum said. “Just another Wednesday. Another game. Another opportunity to come in and try to be the best player I can be. Another day to just try to get a win.”
The Warriors won that game amid a 12-3 start to the season, but that wasn’t the case at Chase Center on Monday as Golden State fell to to 21-21 — and Tatum got retribution again, in the eyes of Smith.
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