Steve Kerr Starts Jayson Tatum For Team USA & He Brutally Missed His First Shot

Published|Updated

Team USA men's basketball head coach Steve Kerr made the decision not to play Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum in the team's Olympic opener, a blowout win over Serbia. 

The decision caused all kinds of chaos, particularly in the media. ESPN hot air balloon Kendrick Perkins said Kerr "disrespected and embarrassed" Tatum by sitting him in Team USA's first game. 

Even Kerr said after the game that he made a mistake not playing Tatum, even though the team easily cruised to victory without him. 

Well, Kerr certainly wasn't going to make that mistake again! Not only did Kerr commit to playing Tatum in the team's second game, a matchup against South Sudan, but he started the Celtics guard. 

Social media reacted to the decision to have Tatum go from benched to starter, and it's … well, pretty much exactly what you'd expect. 

If Jayson Tatum had a chip on his shoulder after being passed over in game one, he sure didn't show it with his first shot attempt! 

Tatum attempted a three-pointer and hit the side of the backboard. Seriously. 

Woof. Not exactly how to silence the haters there, Jayson. 

The good news for Tatum is that he played infinitely more minutes in the first half against South Sudan than he did against Serbia. 

The bad news is that he scored the same number of points: 0. 

Team USA Basketball coach Steve Kerr sat Jayson Tatum in the team's opener and then caved to pressure and started him against South Sudan.

Team USA Basketball coach Steve Kerr sat Jayson Tatum in the team's opener and then caved to pressure and started him against South Sudan.

(Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

Tatum attempted two shots and missed both. He did have three rebounds and two assists, though, so thank goodness Steve Kerr came to his senses and got Tatum into the action. 

Ultimately, it didn't matter that much. Despite nearly losing to South Sudan last week, Team USA clearly didn't take its opponent lightly this time. 

South Sudan led the Americans by 14 points at halftime in the first meeting. This time, though, the Red, White and Blue completely dominated the inferior opponent over the first 20 minutes, taking a 55-36 lead into the break. 

Tags
Written by

Dan began his sports media career at ESPN, where he survived for nearly a decade. Once the Stockholm Syndrome cleared, he made his way to OutKick. He is secure enough in his masculinity to admit he is a cat-enthusiast with three cats, one of which is named "Brady" because his wife wishes she were married to Tom instead of him.