Jayson Tatum has opened up about his difficult experience at the Olympics, having received two DNPs across the tournament and just 11 minutes of court time in the gold medal match against France.
Tatum says his minimal playing time will not affect his decision on whether he’ll play in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“It was a tough personal experience on the court, but I’m not going to make any decision off emotions,” Tatum said. “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.”
Tatum added that lots of people had reached out about his limited role.
“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 said. “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.”
Team USA coach Steve Kerr has previously emphasised that his decision to limit Tatum’s playing time was driven by matchups, not performance.
Tatum finished the Olympics with averages of 5.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. He shot 38.1 percent from the field and missed all four of his three-point attempts.
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