Former NBA star Carmelo Anthony showed some major love to Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum for being “resilient” despite the fact that he was benched at times for Team USA during the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“They wanted him to be – do what Devin Booker did, right? Be a stretch 4, space the court, play some defense and that’s it.
“But if you not told that what’s your role and you just told to figure it out – right – now, if I get in the game, I’m overthinking. We human too. Basketball players is human. Athletes is human.”
Anthony then went further into the human aspect of playing on a team and how it’s tough to navigate a situation like Tatum was in.
“This is the side that I love talking about,” Anthony said. “Because I want these young athletes out here to know s— is real out here. You get what I’m saying? This s— it real. This is somebody who we done cheered for. This man has one of the best resumes over the four, five years out of any player in any sport. Right?
“What he went through I want everybody to see that s—. That s— hurt to go through that on national television around the world.
“I literally take my hat off to him, because he was resilient. He stood there, and he know the world knows that he’s f—— pissed.”
Even though he was an All-NBA selection in the 2023-24 season and won an NBA title, Tatum did not explicitly complain about his lack of playing time in certain games in the Olympics. In the semifinals against Nikola Jokic and Serbia, Tatum did not play even though Team USA struggled for a good chunk of the game before orchestrating a comeback in the fourth quarter.
Team USA head coach Steve Kerr opted to go with players like Booker, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Anthony Edwards, Bam Adebayo and others over Tatum in that matchup.
While the decision worked out, as Team USA went on to capture the gold medal, it clearly couldn’t have been an easy process for Tatum.
Anthony points out the hurt that the Celtics star was likely going through, but he commended him for making sure it didn’t come across that he was angry or frustrated while his team was winning.
A five-time All-Star, Tatum averaged 26.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game in the 2023-24 season for Boston. He led the Celtics to their second NBA Finals appearance in his NBA career and captured his first title by defeating the Dallas Mavericks in five games.
It’s possible that Tatum uses his benching this summer for Team USA as motivation to prove that he’s one of the game’s best players in the 2024-25 NBA season.
