Jaysom Tatum’s All-Star status at theBoston Celtics and his recent championship currently mean very little when Team USA coach Steve Kerr is choosing the best starters for the Olympic Games. For the July 31st Olympic Games’ group phase match against South Sudan, Jayson Tatum was expecting to play some minutes after being benched for the entire game against Serbia. A game they won 110-84. Tatum did play much more than against Serbia, he played a total of 17 minuts against South sudan. During that playing time, Jayson only scored 4 points and went 2-of-4 from the field. Not great numbers but at least he finally got some minutes in these Summer Olympics.

Jayson Tatum’s forgettable performance vs South Sudan

For playing 17 minutes, Jayson Tatum didn’t score many points as others definitely did. A total of six players scored doule digits during the game against South Sudan. Led by Bam Adebayo with 18 points, Kevin Durant got 14, Anthony Edwards scored 13, LeBron James got 12. Both Devin Booker and Derrick White got 10 points each. To compare, Ant played almost the same 17 minutes Tatum playd and he scored 13 points. Another super star who had a strange statline was Stephen Curry, the third Team USA player with the most time played and only scored 3 points. He did try from the distance but missed all 6 three-pointers he attempted.

Tatum will have another chance to keep increasing his stat line when Team USA faces Puerto Rico in Lille, France on August 3rd. When asked about being benched, Tatum had a surprising response. Judge for yourselves, he said: “It’s a unique situation, and it’s not about one individual player. The competitor in you wants to play obviously, but I’m not here to make a story about myself. You win a championship, a new contract, NBA 2K25 cover, Sports Illustrated … so after all of this, it’s definitely a humbling experience. We won; I was just glad to get back out there and play again, as there was a lot of chatter over the past few days.”