In a segment on ‘7PM in Brooklyn’ former Knicks star Carmelo Anthony gave his honest take on Jayson Tatum’s role on Team USA this summer. Anthony found no fault in the lack of playing time for Tatum, but he did put some blame on coach Steve Kerr and Team USA for not properly communicating the details of the rotation to their players.
“I understand why Tatum may not have played… but I don’t agree with how they went about it,” said Anthony. “I’m cool with you saying ‘he’s not gonna play.’ Just be honest, because this is where we have the lack of communication. Talk to me, you already know where you see me at on this depth chart. So if I’m Tatum, I would be pissed… This is the side of basketball I love to talk about, he got one of the greatest resumes in the last 5 years. What he went through I want everybody to see that, the whole world knew he was pissed but he was resilient.”
“I don’t agree with how they went about it.”
Melo reveals his frustrations with how Jayson Tatum’s playing time was handled at the Olympics pic.twitter.com/pL0hsLWrQg
— 7PM in Brooklyn (@7PMinBrooklyn) August 17, 2024
Jayson Tatum was at the center of a huge controversy this summer surrounding his role on Team USA. Coming in, the young Tatum was expected to play behind stars like LeBron James and Kevin Durant but what people didn’t expect was for him to struggle to get minutes at all.
Tatum received two DNPs in the Olympics and he played the second-fewest minutes of anyone on the roster. Both of his Celtics teammates (Derrick White and Jrue Holiday) got more playing time and more opportunities to shine. Across the NBA, several prominent voices spoke up in defense of Tatum and demanded an explanation for his lack of minutes in the game.
The pressure seemingly got to coach Kerr, and Tatum suddenly started playing after widespread backlash. By the end of the tournament, while Team USA went undefeated en route to winning the gold medal, Tatum still played a very limited role and he even admitted to it getting in his head.
What makes it all worse for Tatum is that he’s coming off a championship season for the Celtics. In 74 games last season, he averaged 26.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game on 47% shooting. He and his co-star, Jaylen Brown, led their team to the best record in the league at 64-18.
Coming off a season like that, as the cover athlete of NBA 2K, and a featured Nike athlete, Tatum expected to be a major part of the Olympic games this year. Instead, he was cast aside in favor of other stars like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Anthony Edwards, and Anthony Davis.
Clearly, Jayson Tatum was caught off guard with his Team USA experience and it’s justifiable that he’d be upset with how it all went down. As the reigning NBA champion and one of the best players in the world right now, the guy deserves more respect than he’s getting it will no doubt fuel him for an even greater performance in the seasons to come.
As a former NBA star himself, Carmelo Anthony has been in Tatum’s shoes before and he knows what it’s like to play with a chip on his shoulder. Next season, Camelo knows what to watch for in Boston and he knows what to expect from Tatum who will be looking to prove everyone wrong with his best season yet.
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