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Brian Windhorst, ESPN Senior Writer
PARIS — Jayson Tatum said his limited role playing for Team USA this summer will not affect his decision to play for the national team in the future.
Tatum did not play in two of the six games in the Olympics, including the semifinal victory over Serbia on Thursday. He then came off the bench in the first quarter and played 11 minutes in Team USA’s victory in the gold medal game Saturday against France, scoring two points with three rebounds.
“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.”
Team USA coach Steve Kerr said repeatedly his choice not to play Tatum was not based on performance but matchups. Tatum missed both games against Serbia, where Kerr generally played a bigger lineup. He also was often playing behind LeBron James and Kevin Durant, who played on the second unit for the first five games until starting in the final.
Kerr sat starter Joel Embiid for a game against a smaller South Sudan. He sat Derrick White during the gold medal game. Tyrese Haliburton didn’t play in three games. Tatum said several times after the game that he was thrilled with winning his second gold medal and didn’t want his situation to take away from the team’s success.
But he also acknowledged, as a three-time All-NBA player and recently crowned NBA champion, he was hearing a lot about it from home.
“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.”